# Herping at Lightning Ridge



## greeny1 (Jan 27, 2010)

as the title suggests this is about the lightning ridge field trip. majority of the group was north copast herp society adn the other 4 people were hawkesberry herps. the trip was organised by hawkesberry group and north coast was invited to come along an in the end we made up the numbers. all the herping we did was early mornigns and late afternoons/nights. here are the photos i took but we did find more than that but couldnt get the pictures. we did also find black headed monitors and inland taipans but couldnt get any pics. if i am wrong with any names please point it out.

Burns Dragons _amphibolurus burnsi _were common all over the place












Eastern Bearded Dragon _Pogona Barbata_ were also everywhere adn could be seen in the mornings when not looking












Shinglebacks _Tiliqua rugosa _were everywhere aswell and we could have found about 15 individuals









this was a pair we found together crossing a road
















Curl _snake Suta Suta _the only snake we found besides the taipans and the only one we got to photograph




















Box pattern Gecko _Lucasium steindachneri_








Tesselated Gecko _Diplodactylus tesselatus_












and there were lots of frogs which i have no idea about and have no frog books to help me out








although im sure this is dwarf tree frog


















anyone else who was at the trip please share your photos aswell.

cheers
mark


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## chickensnake (Jan 27, 2010)

Seems like you had fun, and saw heaps


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## lizardjasper (Jan 27, 2010)

find any opals while you were searching? My parents went to lightning ridge last year for a trip, ansd came back with photos of shingles and a dead beardie (mummified) on the road. They also brought me back an opal ring!


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## lizardjasper (Jan 27, 2010)

find any opals while you were searching? My parents went to lightning ridge last year for a trip, ansd came back with photos of shingles and a dead beardie (mummified) on the road. They also brought me back an opal ring!


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## Acrochordus (Jan 27, 2010)

Nice set off photos, looks like you's did pritty good. How come you did photograph the Taipans?
Thanks Tim.


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## Gecko75 (Jan 27, 2010)

nice pics Mark, sounded like fun, I doubt the snake was an inland taipan, its to far east there, they were probably western browns. looks like you didn't go to badly!


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## greeny1 (Jan 27, 2010)

we couldnt photograph the tapiand because we tried to catch them and they took off, one fown a burrow ad the toher into thic bushes. 

actualy we did i did find a tiny bit of opal but i dont think its worth anthing. theres was heaps of poch i found aswell which is what opal grows in but the ones i found didnt have any in them.


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## greeny1 (Jan 27, 2010)

actually gecko all the locals and gary said that taipans although they arent really on the maps there are in the area. and from what gary said he thought it was surely a taipan


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## Gecko75 (Jan 27, 2010)

only a range extension of a few hundred km, habitat seems alright for them, suppose it is possible, really big shame you didnt get pictures of them. do you have a list of all the stuff you found over the few days? did you see any of the dunnarts?


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## greeny1 (Jan 27, 2010)

no dunnarts, dont erally have a list. that was basically it and bynoes, dtellas and marbled geckos which were so common i didnt bother photographing them


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## greeny1 (Jan 27, 2010)

cant believe i didnt put the pics of the marm i found. that was *my *best find, lol. here they are


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## Gizzard (Jan 27, 2010)

woah that must of been an amazing herping trip, good memories for years to come


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## Gecko75 (Jan 27, 2010)

wow the marm is beautiful, kicking myself I couldnt make it.


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## greeny1 (Jan 27, 2010)

thanks, yeah it was great, the marm was nice but they are nothing to my WA  . as for memoreies im pretty sure we are going back in october when the mating seson is on


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## Rox.n.Lix (Jan 27, 2010)

i love that second frog! also, love to see shingle backs in pairs, they always remind of little old grandpa and grandmas who've seen at least their silver wedding anniversary <3. lol


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## GeckoJosh (Jan 27, 2010)

Nice marm, that must have been a highlight for you


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## greeny1 (Jan 27, 2010)

sure was, especially considering i found it and i dont normally find anything good. lol


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## moosenoose (Jan 27, 2010)

Great piccies! I also love the frog in the water shot!


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## greeny1 (Jan 27, 2010)

Rox.n.Lix said:


> i love that second frog! also, love to see shingle backs in pairs, they always remind of little old grandpa and grandmas who've seen at least their silver wedding anniversary <3. lol


 
yeah the shingle pair, marm and black heade monitors were the highlights for me. the male had that interesting white around the edges of him.


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## greeny1 (Jan 27, 2010)

lol, we found that frog like that when we were phoographing the others and everytime you got to close for the photo hed duck back down but come straight back up 50cm away, lol


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## bigguy (Jan 27, 2010)

Greeny1

I think you will find the Taipans were in actual fact Western Browns. This is a common mistake as the Browns out in the top corner of NSW look very similar to the Taipans.

How come no pics on Central Beardeds. They should have been the most common lizard out there. i to have tried to take pics of tristis monitors, but boy they are fast and just dont want to stand there for a shot.


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## froggyboy86 (Jan 27, 2010)

Nice photos, Lightning Ridge is a great place for herps. The small green frog is a Green Tree Frog (Litoria caerulea). The brown one with spots is a New Holland Frog (Cyclorana novaehollandiae), one with the green stripe is a Striped Burrowing Frog (Cyclorana alboguttata) and the last one is a Water Holding Frog (Cyclorana platycephala). That marmorata is beautiful.


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## JasonL (Jan 27, 2010)

Yes, Juvie Green Tree Frogs often have a stripe through their eye, they can be easily confused if your not familar with juvie GTF's.
I also agree with Bigguy on the fact that they were most likely Western Browns, everone who lives in the west thinks they have taipans in their area.


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## Jakee (Jan 27, 2010)

What species is the third last frog ??


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## JasonL (Jan 27, 2010)

Jakee said:


> What species is the third last frog ??



A juv, New Holland Frog.


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## Jakee (Jan 27, 2010)

JasonL said:


> A juv, New Holland Frog.



Cheers JasonL.


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## eipper (Jan 27, 2010)

I will agree with Bob and Jason on this one.....the chances of turning up an inland out there are slim at best...

nice pics

Cheers,
Scott


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## greeny1 (Jan 28, 2010)

bigguy said:


> Greeny1
> 
> I think you will find the Taipans were in actual fact Western Browns. This is a common mistake as the Browns out in the top corner of NSW look very similar to the Taipans.
> 
> How come no pics on Central Beardeds. They should have been the most common lizard out there. i to have tried to take pics of tristis monitors, but boy they are fast and just dont want to stand there for a shot.


 
yeh the beardies were everywhere but they were either centrals or easterns, im not 100% which they were.


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## greeny1 (Jan 28, 2010)

yeah thanks for the frog id's, i actually have a frog poster, after i posted the thread i realised that the bug one was a new holland but still had no idea of the others. 

also i never saw the 'taipans'. i was going off experienced herpers who saw them who thought they were taiapns but i think you are probably right.


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## Jonno from ERD (Jan 28, 2010)

G'day greeny,

I think you'll find your "Taipans" will be Eastern or Western Browns, or possibly Mulga Snakes. Inland Taipans are not found within atleast 500km of where you guys were herping.

Cheers


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## Gecko75 (Jan 28, 2010)

Any more pictures Mark? and Jonno, you are 5th person to say the exact same thing lol


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## greeny1 (Jan 29, 2010)

sorry not any more good pics, lol, but i am gunna make a dvd of everyones pics from the group.


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## greeny1 (Jan 29, 2010)

thanks jonno, yeah sounds like that must be the case with 5 people saying it


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## AllThingsReptile (Apr 16, 2010)

uhh yeh the "box pattern gecko" the first pic is a cunninghams skink on top of a beardie 
but the second pic is right any way i wish i could have been there


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## AllThingsReptile (Apr 16, 2010)

and in the "curl snake" pics theres two pics of blue tongues


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