# Far North Queensland 2 -- Mission Beach, Lacey Creek area



## moloch05 (Sep 18, 2008)

My wife and I spent most of our recent holiday (early Sep) at Mission Beach, Qld. Mission Beach is about a 90 minute drive south of Cairns.

While at Mission Beach, I visited Lacey Creek almost every day. Lacey Creek flows through rainforest that was damaged by Cyclone Larry a few years ago. The forest is regenerating nicely but there still are many fallen trees and branches to be seen. Palms are abundant here and include an annoying one that grows as a vine (a rattan) and is known as a "wait-a-while" or "lawyer vine". Its tendrils have many cat-like claws that hook into skin with ease. They definitely get ones attention.







I walked along Lacey Creek many times during the day and night. The trail through the rainforest is a good place to see Cassowaries although I only saw their droppings on this trip. 






I have seen Scrub Pythons here before but unfortunately no snakes on this visit. I did see quite a variety of skinks. The most common species were Red-throated Rainbow-skinks (_Carlia rubrigularis_). These were social little lizards and often would share the same patch of sun on the forest floor. The small skink in the photo is a Rainforest Sun-skink (_Lampropholis coggeri_).






The males are nicely coloured and exhibit the typical iridescence of the _Carlia_ skinks:











These little skinks are no doubt the food source of many other animals. This male appears to have had a lucky escape from something and is missing scales from its head.






Females are more sombrely marked:







Rainforest Sun-skinks (_Lampropholis coggeri_) were also common and social.






... a juvenile:






An interesting group were these Shade-skinks (_Saproscincus basiliscus_). They seem to me to be the Aussie equivalents of _Anolis_. They were arboreal and usually found on shrubs or rocks in deep shade within the forest.





















This is a Four-fingered Shade-skink (_Saproscincus tetradactylus_). It is one of the smallest species of lizards in Australia with a SVL of 3cm. I only found this species when they crossed the trail. Once in leaf litter, they vanished immediately beneath the leaves.











I saw a few Eastern Water Skinks (_Eulamprus quoyii_) along the creek:






I found this partially eaten carcass of a Pink-tongued Skink (_Cyclodomorphus gerrardii_) in the creek. Freshwater shrimp (_Macrobrachium australiense_) were feeding on it.


The largest skink of the forest was the Major Skink (_Egernia frerei_). These were incredibly shy and this was the only shot of the species that I could obtain. It looks quite different to those that I have seen elsewhere.






Saw-shelled Turtle (_Wollumbinia latisternum_) were common in the creek. The smaller turtle in this photo swam with the larger animal and continuously nibbled at its feet and head. The larger turtle completely ignored it. I know little about turtles. Is this some sort of courtship activity? 






In addition to reptiles, I saw quite a number of interesting animals on the walks. Freshwater shrimp (_Macrobrachium australiense_) were a common sight at night:






Fish included Snake-headed Gudgeons:






... and these Jungle Perch and Australian Rainbow Fish:











I saw these large White-kneed King Crickets many times:






Mammals included Grey-headed Flying Fox that succeeded in dropping fruits on my head on two occasions. I was not able to take a pic, but I had a nice look at an enormous White-tailed Tree Rat, a huge native rat of the forest. Long-nosed Bandicoot and Northern Brown Bandicoot were common around the edges of the forest. 

Northern Brown Bandicoot:






I think that this is a Red-necked Pademelon (_Thylogale thetis_). They were very shy and I had to take this shot from quite a distance. Usually, I only heard their thumping alarm as they sprinted into cover.






Lacey Creek was a good area to see one of the most spectacular Australian Butterflies, the Cairns Birdwing. Females are the largest butterfly in Australia with a wingspan of nearly 7". Males are smaller and more brightly coloured. This male had been killed by a car.






... a skipper:






... a snout beetle:







... an interesting fungus:






... an canopy orchid growing on a fallen branch. 






I thought that my new camera rig was quite heavy compared to my old point-and-shoot ... but then I met Jerry Lemmo who used this incredible lens. Gerry is a professional wildlife photographer from New York(http://www.gerrylemmo.com/).






Regards,
David


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## serpenttongue (Sep 18, 2008)

Lacey Creek......i like the sound of that!!

Top pics, moloch!


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## moloch05 (Sep 18, 2008)

I meant to ask about this Saproscincus. I saw several like this where the stripe was pronounced and the lateral areas had few markings unlike other Saproscincus basiliscus. Is this difference due to age, sex or simply individual variation? To me, it seemed quite different to most S. basiliscus that I encountered.


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## BlindSnake (Sep 18, 2008)

I like how some of the skinks were cooperative enough to curl their tails back for you..Top notch photography, thanks for posting..


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## FAY (Sep 18, 2008)

Fantastic as usual David.


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## salebrosus (Sep 18, 2008)

That fungus looks like something out of an Aliens movie.

Fabulous shots as always.


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## Kirby (Sep 18, 2008)

beautiful photo's as usual...


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## moloch05 (Sep 19, 2008)

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback.

salebrosus,
I forgot to mention but I saw phosphorescent fungi when I was on my night walks. The glowing "mushrooms" were a soft green colour. I did not take a photo but here is a link to a nice shot:
http://flickr.com/photos/ancelb/2080720528/

Regards,
David


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## salebrosus (Sep 19, 2008)

WOW David, that would be awesome to see!


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## LullabyLizard (Sep 19, 2008)

Great pics!


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## borntobnude (Sep 19, 2008)

more great photos but where are the cassowaries


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## moloch05 (Sep 19, 2008)

Thanks,

Here is link to the Cassowary photos. I did see these amazing birds on a few occasions:
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/other-animals/southern-cassowaries-at-mission-beach-91379


Regards,
David


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## borntobnude (Sep 20, 2008)

thanks for that .27 years ago i was chef at the pub now mb resort we would see several cassowaries a day in the car park and the surronding forest [ woolies] but my kids 12/10 have never seen one .mum lives at south mb up from the baot ramp used to be forest now houses .nowhere for the animals to play anymore ..did you do the stoney creek walk tully road to el arish road? lots of fish and turtles .


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## BenReyn (Sep 20, 2008)

OMG, i am soooo jealous, i love when people post pics of their herp holidays!!

Thankyou soo much


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## Magpie (Sep 20, 2008)

Great pics as usual David.
Those pademelons sure are shy buggers, reckon I'd be lucky to see one oout of 10 that I hear.
Love the bioluminescent fungi http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a301/stimsoni/Cnv0363.jpg
We used to get those white fungi quite a bit at our old house in the burbs, but have not seen them here in the RF http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a301/stimsoni/Public/03.jpg


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## moloch05 (Sep 20, 2008)

Thanks, guys.

Those fungi are amazing, Magpie. I saw flies on the one that I encountered as well. I have read that the fungus smells like something rotting and then attracts flies to disperse its spores.

borntob,
The decline in numbers of cassowaries is sad. I guess that there is just too much disturbance and the frequent cyclones don't help as well. We were shocked by the appearance of the new Woolies.

We did not go on Tully/Arish walk this year but have done so in the past. On that walk a number of years ago when my kids were young, my son found this skink , _Coeranoscincus frontalis_, on the trail. It was a few years before I found it in a book. I have unfortunately never encountered one of these again but they are fossorial so probably just hard to find rather than rare:





Do you ever find these?


Regards,
David


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## borntobnude (Sep 22, 2008)

david , no not some thing i have ever seen at mums ,its funny when we go north my son and i are more interested in the bugs ,moths and butterflies . then birds seed pods and shells . over the 30 yrs i have only seen 4 snakes in the MB area 1 tree snake 1 tiapan and two carpets . south MB seems to be where the paddy mellons have congregated ,a walk around the block almost anytime you can count 100 with out trying . larry seems to have had a big effect on the area even though it wasnt as strong through the area as winefred in 86 .it brought the animals out of the forest larry drove them in further .
cheers rod


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