Coastal NSW Herping.

[GeckPhotographer]

Coastal NSW, some common fauna and some flood oddities.

So the past few months have been pretty hectic. Lots of herping, a herping conference, more herping,... more herping. Somehow I've ended up with a few photos from various trips I haven't put up yet and I decided to do all the trips here.

In early January I had an Earthwatch 'Australia's Vanishing Frogs' field trip. This trip is one with a number of paying volunteers coming to assist in field research. I've been doing these trips for a long time and these days I often end up busier with other things than photography because it's 'all old'. I did take a few pictures this trip.

We started out at my house, near Newcastle. Often we have OS volunteers so it's nice to show them a bit of the local fauna, a Green Tree Snake around the house gave that chance.

Dendrelaphis punctulatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Dendrelaphis punctulatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Dendrelaphis punctulatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Dendrelaphis punctulatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Dendrelaphis punctulatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

We then frogged that night in the local mountains. We got a number of frogs I didn't photograph but I did photograph a nice Diamon Python.

Morelia spilota by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Morelia spilota by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Morelia spilota by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Morelia spilota by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Morelia spilota by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

and a Leaf-green Tree Frog

Litoria phyllochroa by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

as well as one pretty bad shot of an Eastern Small Eyed Snake.

Cryptophis nigrescens by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

After the first day we moved North, finding plenty of our study animals which I neglected to photograph.
The only things I photographed on the rest of the trip was this White's Skink

Liopholis whitii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Liopholis whitii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

And this Rough Scaled Snake

Tropidechis carinatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Back from that trip it was time to go on a relaxing weekend camp with some friends in the bush, which involved driving home from the last camp for Earthwatch, then driving back to the exact same camp. This time I was a bit more relaxed and took some more photos of different things.

These Moritz Leaf-tails were common in the area.

Saltuarius moritzi by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Saltuarius moritzi by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

We found one young Diamond Python cruising around. I was pretty damn happy with the shot I got, until I noticed it had a water droplet in its eye.

Morelia spilota by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

The recent rain cause several Red-eyed Tree Frogs to call

Litoria chloris by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

and a female Tusked Frog to move around.

Adelotus brevis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Recently after rain is also one of the best times to find Southern Angle Headed Dragons, of which we saw several.

Hypsilurus spinipes by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Hypsilurus spinipes by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Hypsilurus spinipes by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

This wrapped up that weekend of relaxation.

As you'd know if you were in NSW over summer, this has been a particularly dry season and NSW has spent most of it hurting for rain. In late January Northern NSW finally got good heavy rain, (much to the horror of Southern Qld), me and my dad not wanting to miss out on the opportunity decided to go frogging.
We drove North of Newcastle and spent two days hopping out of the car only to look at frogs on the road. We found many species and I photographed several of the ones I see less commonly.

Litoria revelata aren't particularly a frog that needs flooding, however it does bring out some massive choruses of them.

Litoria revelata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Litoria gracilenta on the other hand are rarely seen in the South of their range unless a large summer rain is hitting. Even at the site these were photographed they only called for a couple hours before getting a mate and becoming much harder to find.

Litoria gracilenta by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

The true jewel of NSW floods in terms of frogging however is the Green Thighed Frog, this frog is a very attractive chocolate brown with bright green/yellow colouring in the thigh and groin. The males may call only a very few nights a year (2-5) usually during the heaviest periods of rain and the couple days after. While calling the males often go bright yellow.

Litoria brevipalmata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Litoria brevipalmata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Litoria brevipalmata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
This one was getting mosquito'd

Litoria brevipalmata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Litoria brevipalmata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
Many pairs were found in amplexus. I'm sure it was a very successful breeding.

Litoria brevipalmata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

That wraps up the Coastal NSW part of the herping, but I'll later post some more picture from my trip to South Australia.

 

[treeofgreen]

Always awesome shots GP. Cheers mate

 

[Bushman]

You've taken some great shots there Stephen. I particularly like the last Green Tree Snake shot.

 

[mcloughlin2]

Roughly how far north did you go? Are the second group of shots from close to the NSW-OLD border?

 

[Channaz]

So the past few months have been pretty hectic. Lots of herping, a herping conference, more herping,... more herping.

Sounds like a great adventure. Fantastic pics. What was the herping conference?

 

[froggyboy86]

Great shots Stephen, its been a good summer up north for frogs. I was finally able to photograph the tadpoles of L. brevipalmata!

Aaron

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Thanks a lot for the compliments.

roughly how far north did you go? Are the second group of shots from close to the NSW-OLD border?

None of the pictures were farther north than Coffs Harbour. Though if we had the time we would have gone to the Qld border.

What was the herping conference?

Annual Australian Society Herpetologists conference.

its been a good summer up north for frogs. I was finally able to photograph the tadpoles of L. brevipalmata!

Yeah it was a very good summer, I was a little annoyed I missed calling L.gracilenta shots though, I need to get further North during the rains for a whole bunch of things I've seen but not photographed.

 

[mattG]

awesome pics, love the angle headed shots..

 

[$NaKe PiMp]

Your a great photographer , when ever your around my way I encounter a lot of
snakes to photograph if your looking for some subjects.

 

[Xeaal]

Ditto for above comment; these shots you take are always so beautiful and always bring the subject out to their best. Please when you put the latin name of the animal, maybe list the common name too, as it makes it easier to remember and learn, for those of us who are not automatically familiar with all the names yet. Thank you.

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Ditto for above comment; these shots you take are always so beautiful and always bring the subject out to their best. Please when you put the latin name of the animal, maybe list the common name too, as it makes it easier to remember and learn, for those of us who are not automatically familiar with all the names yet. Thank you.

Thanks, I have tried for most of them to put the common name in the short speel above the pictures, the latin name below the pictures just comes across automatically from flickr as the name of the photo, which I am going to leave as just the latin name. If I haven't put the common name above the animal (for example I've called L.revelata by it's latin name above) then click on the picture to take you to the image on flickr where the common name is listed.

 

[Umbral]

Fantastic pics!! Thanks for putting them up.

 

[Melzey]

Some seriously amazing pics there, thanks for giving us a look.