# Town Common



## Kitah (Nov 26, 2008)

Went for a trip to the town common at Tvill today to look for some wildlife  Unfortunately the only herp I came across was this lizard; anyone keen to name them for me? There were quite a few. Also found some other wildlife... Wasn't there for long though


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## Lonewolf (Nov 26, 2008)

awesome pics really like that lizard


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## Australis (Nov 26, 2008)

Shadow,
Its a Rainbow skink, _Carlia_ genus, not positive of
the species..but im leaning towards _pectoralis_
its a male in "breeding colours".

Definitely my all time favorite genus of small native
skink.

Nice photos also.

Matt.


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## Kitah (Nov 26, 2008)

Thanks for that Australis, I have no idea about naming skinks. never know, I might learn one day! There were a lot of these guys around, the one in the first picture was within 2m of where I parked my car, and the other pics were taken about 200m down a dirt road off to the side. They wern't too afraid of people either. 

The one down the track was originally moving strangely, kept wrigling its tail.. reminds me of animals that kind of 'bait' prey, if that makes sense, was interesting to watch. Any idea what it was doing?

Edit: Just looked the _Carlia _up on the JCU site and like you said it looks very similar to _pectoralis, _and they're apparently in this area.


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## Nephrurus (Nov 26, 2008)

WOW you got a bustard on the town common? How far out of town is it? 

Great photo of it too!

-H


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## Kitah (Nov 26, 2008)

There were quite a few bustards out there.. the other day (Sat?) when I just went a drive along the road to check the place out briefly I saw 4 on the side of the road, and yesterday I found a group of three. Have quite a few photos of them, didn't seem too concerned about my presence. 

The bustards were along near the end of the dirt road, so it was about 6km down the track? there was a golf course at the start of the dirt track, but besides that theres virtually nothing.


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## Palex134 (Nov 26, 2008)

Beautiful Carlia sp., and great shots. I have yet to master all the Skink generas & species, but that is definitely a Carlia sp. That second picture is great!

Can you describe Town Common a bit? I looked at it a little last night while looking for places to herp around JCU.


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## andyscott (Nov 26, 2008)

Great pics Laura,
Your getting realy good with that camera.


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## LullabyLizard (Nov 26, 2008)

Great pics  I love the skink!


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## Wild~Touch (Nov 26, 2008)

Excellent pics thanks for sharing
Cheers
Sandee


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## moloch05 (Nov 26, 2008)

The little Carlia skinks are difficult. I think that Australis is correct about it being a male C. pectoralis in breeding colours due to the two prominent orange stripes on the flanks. I have seen another similar species at Bowen, C. vivax. The ones that I saw had entirely orange flanks.

Regards,
David


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## Kitah (Nov 26, 2008)

Thanks Guys 



Palex134 said:


> Beautiful Carlia sp., and great shots. I have yet to master all the Skink generas & species, but that is definitely a Carlia sp. That second picture is great!
> 
> Can you describe Town Common a bit? I looked at it a little last night while looking for places to herp around JCU.



I don't know much about the town common at the mo, only reason I went in was because I remembered someone else on here mentioning it once before, and I happened to drive to pallarenda the other day and recognised the name on the sign. Theres a 7km long dirt road that runs through the place, theres a couple of paths off the road. I found 3 monitors (no idea what type; were small) on the road basking at about 5.30-6pm the first time I went, about 5km down the road from the entrance. Theres a small waterhole there at the moment where 4 jabirus seem to hang around. Theres quite a few brolgas in the area, as well as the bustards, the rainbow bee eaters, double barred finches, a few dove sp., the little skinks in this thread, heaps of butterflies.. quite a lot of wildlife and very easy to find. At the moment its quite dry but it looks like a really good place to go bird watching during the wetseason. theres a hide/viewing area at the end of the track that birdwatchers can look through. well worth the visit, i thought, will def. be back.


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## Palex134 (Nov 26, 2008)

xshadowx said:


> Thanks Guys
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know much about the town common at the mo, only reason I went in was because I remembered someone else on here mentioning it once before, and I happened to drive to pallarenda the other day and recognised the name on the sign. Theres a 7km long dirt road that runs through the place, theres a couple of paths off the road. I found 3 monitors (no idea what type; were small) on the road basking at about 5.30-6pm the first time I went, about 5km down the road from the entrance. Theres a small waterhole there at the moment where 4 jabirus seem to hang around. Theres quite a few brolgas in the area, as well as the bustards, the rainbow bee eaters, double barred finches, a few dove sp., the little skinks in this thread, heaps of butterflies.. quite a lot of wildlife and very easy to find. At the moment its quite dry but it looks like a really good place to go bird watching during the wetseason. theres a hide/viewing area at the end of the track that birdwatchers can look through. well worth the visit, i thought, will def. be back.



Thanks! 
I'm always looking for new places to photograph some wildlife. That place sounds very nice. I'll definitely have to check it out sometime.


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## Kitah (Nov 26, 2008)

Only problem with the place is with the damn hoons that go flying along there with their dirtbikes, spraying gravel everywhere. 

Are some great animals there, and at the moment its pretty much bone dry, rekon it'd be great for the birds in the wet season. Will be going again when I come back to uni next Feb.


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