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moloch05

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This is a great time of the year to see a variety of reptiles. Young of the year are everywhere and all of the reptiles seem to be actively searching for their final meals before the arrival of winter. Yesterday, the weather was perfect so I went for a long walk at Royal. Last Saturday, I also went for a walk at Heathcote although the day became overcast and it was too cool to see much.

Here are pics of what I encountered.

The surf was up at Garie Beach:
surf1.jpg



Garie Beach, the start of my walk into the heathland of Royal. I take the same photo on nearly every trip since it is always such a spectacular view.
habitat2.jpg



Heath of Royal:
habitat1.jpg



Copper-tailed Skinks (Ctenotus taeniolatus). These skinks seemed to be everywhere and sometimes, up to four were seen at a time.
CopperTailed7.jpg



...original tails were long:
CopperTailed9.jpg



...but most adults had regenerated tails like this:
CopperTailed6.jpg



... I watched this adult and a juvenile for quite awhile. This was the alarm posture that the adult assumed when it spotted an approaching Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis):
CopperTailed3.jpg



Eastern Brown Snake, juvenile. It appeared to be actively hunting the Copper-tailed Skinks. It crawled up to the rock where two were sitting and then circled it. The adult in the above photo raced for several meters to a large flat rock. It stopped in the open so I guess it could not be surprised by the hunting snake. The juvenile remained on the rock and appeared to be oblivious to the nearby danger. I had hoped to see the snake attempt to capture the lizard but unfortunately, a couple of other bushwalkers came along and frightened the snake.
EasternBrown3a.jpg


EasternBrown2a.jpg


EasternBrown1.jpg




... juvenile Copper-tailed Skink.
CopperTailed2.jpg




White's Skinks (Egernia whitii) were also abundant. They were colonial and a number were often seen around the same sandstone outcrop.
Whites2.jpg


Whites1.jpg


Whites3.jpg


Whites5a.jpg


Whites8.jpg





... juveniles at Royal were usually much darker in colour than the adults.
Whites4.jpg


Whites4a.jpg





I see what I assume to be the same Cunningham's Skink (Egernia cunninghami) in the same crevice on nearly every visit to Royal.
Cunninghams1.jpg


Cunninghams1a.jpg




Lampropholis delicata. This one was basking on the trail in the early morning.
LampropholisDelicata1.jpg



Most Eastern Water Skinks (Eulamprus quoyii) have already disappeared until next spring. I found only two of this normally common lizard.
waterskink1.jpg


waterskink.jpg



Other reptiles at Royal included Jacky Lizards (Amphibolurus muricatus) and a Red-throated Skink (Acritoscincus platynotum). I saw a Yellow-faced Whipsnake (Demansia psammophis) that also appeared to be hunting skinks on the sandstone.


At Heathcote, I found this basking Jacky Lizzard (Amphibolurus muricatus):
Jacky3.jpg



juvenile Eastern Water Dragon (Physignathus lesueurii):
waterDragon.jpg



The highlight was this basking Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus). I was able to take one quick photo before the snake raced into cover.
red-belliedBlackSnake1.jpg



Preying Mantis:
preyingMantis1.jpg



New Holland Honeyeater:
NewHolland1.jpg



Regards,
David
 
that red-belly sure was a good Photo taken not blury wich is weird for fast moving objects
 
Wonderful photos as always David. Thanks for sharing your walk with us. Always good to see a variety of species, especially ones not often seen on this site. The non-reptile shots help to set the scene and make me feel that I am there.
Paul.
 
wow, nice pictures once again david, the red bellys are hard to photograph as they always escape on me, lucky to find the juv eastern brown only seen one in the last few months which managed to escape into a bit of scrub
 
Thanks, all, for the comments.

willia6,
The red-belly was not moving when I first spotted it and took the pic. A moment later, however, it was a blur as it shot into cover. Red-bellied Blacks are so hard to photo -- they are alert and so timid. It is hard to find one in the open for a photo.

Regards,
David
 
As usual top quality, Hurry up with the new section Site!

OOps i am a goose it's already there !!!!!!!!!!!!! Good work mods!!!!!!!!!!

And Jason Luke, i wouldn't know, us common folk can't enter the shire!!
 
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Great pics. Spent many a day surfing at Garie or Little Era never noticed any herps back then except the odd snakey.
 
I returned to Royal for a short walk yesterday and to see what was still active. I also wanted to experiment with my new camera gear.
habitat2.jpg


habitat1.jpg



... a "striking snake"?
habitat4.jpg



I did not see any Copper-tailed Skinks on this visit -- the same as last May. It seems that copper-tails retire for the winter in late April or early May. Cunningham's Skinks were seen in their usually crevice. This time, 3 adults and 1 juvenile basked together.
cunninghams1.jpg



White's Skinks were out in good numbers but for some reason, they were very hard to approach and I was not able to get any reasonable pics.

I saw a single Jacky Lizard.
jacky2.jpg



Does anyone have an idea what this insect may be? It had sucking mouthparts so I imagine that it is a hemipteran or homopteran but it really looks strange. I saw them on the sandstone in May of last year as well.
hemipteran1.jpg



... flying New Holland Honeyeater
newHollands1.jpg



... Darwinia
darwinia1.jpg




Regards,
David
 
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Wonderful photography! Thank you for sharing, your photos are a pleasure to look at!
You are very lucky to see such a variety of reptiles in the wild.
Thanx for the beach shots as well!
 
Yesterday was the last day of autumn and I decided to return to Royal National Park for a walk and to see if there were any active reptiles. The weather was warm, still shorts and t-shirt temps, but the reptiles were not fooled by this. They must know that winter is on the way and most had retired for the season. I only found two White's Skinks and a single Cunningham's Skink in its usual crevice. Something different, however, were Humpback Whales that were swimming close to the Garie Beach. I saw the group several times through the day as I walked along the cliffs. The whales would breach at times but I never was quick enough to get a shot of this impressive sight.
humpback3.jpg


humpback1.jpg


humpback2.jpg



Banksia are in full flower at the moment and their attendant honeyeaters were everywhere.
Heath-leaf Banksia (B. ericifolia)
habitat2.jpg


banksiaericifolia.jpg




Coast Banksia (B. integrifolia)
banksiaintegrifolia1.jpg




Silver Banksia (B. marginata)
banksia.jpg



Saw Banksia (B. serrata)
banksiaserrata1.jpg
 
Wow that was great....
which state did you take those pics in....
would you know if all the varieties of banksia are available i every state?
 
Nice pics again David, In a couple of months the park will be alive with flowers, a really great time of year to go for a walk, herps or not.
 
Awsome. Love em all - herps or just nature. I'll look at these when it is pouring with rain here (I hope, boy do we need the rain). Facinated by all the skinks I've seen on here lately, Mantids will always hold a soft spot for me. They can have quite a K9 nature if hand reared.
 
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