[moloch]

Hello everyone,

This has been a busy year for me and I have not been out as much as I would like. Back in October, I did make a quick trip out to Windorah in the channel country of south western Queensland. I think that this is one of the best areas in the eastern deserts that I have visited. I always see lots of animals and there is always the possibility of something special. The only problem for me is that it is a long way from the 'Gong. It is a numbing 20 hour drive.

Here is a map that shows the location of Windorah.


Spring is always my favourite time of the the year. My original intent was to travel up to northern NSW to photograph butterflies. I wanted to search for the spectacular Richmond Birdwings in the Mt. Warning area but the weather forecast was not good. I studied the weather charts and predictions before finally deciding to head out the channel country of south western Queensland. I am really pleased now about this decision since the inland had received so much rain. It was lush and green and the animals had responded accordingly. It really was a lovely sight.

Butterflies are normally scarce in the interior but this past year they were abundant. I saw Chequered Swallowtails (Papilio demoleus), Orchard Swallowtails (Papilio aegeus), Small Grass Yellows (Eurema smilax), Red-spotted Jezabels (Delias aganippe), Caper Whites (Belenois java), Meadow Argus (Junonia villida), Lesser Wanderer (Danaus chrysippus), Two-spotted Line-blue (Nacaduba biocellata), Saltbush Blue (Theclinesthnes serpentata) and Common Grass-blue (Zizina labradus). I was able to photograph a few and will add these to this post.


Firstly, I will start with the red dunes, my favourite habitat in this part of the country. This year, the flanks of the dunes were mostly covered with grasses and annuals so that only the crests of many dunes were exposed. Spinifex is the dominant plant and grows as a spikey bunch grass.






These fruits looked similar to watermelons but their skin was tough. Something enjoyed them and a number had been chewed open.





Two-spotted Line-blue (Nacaduba biocellata)



Common Grass-blues (Zizina labradus). They were the most common butterfly on the dunes but they rarely sat still for long.



I saw one of the blues land and lay eggs on this pea:



Chequered Swallowtails (Papilio demoleus) were common on the flanks of the dunes. I also found a couple where roadworks were underway. A truck had just sprayed the road and a swallowtails and blues stopped to puddle.




A colourful hemipteran:



Variegated Fairy Wren. These travel about in small flocks that usually remain within cover. I tried squeaking and this male briefly emerged. They are great looking little birds.



Flats like this were the home of many lizards as well as the Chequered Swallowtails.



One of my favourites was the Central Military Dragon (Ctenophorus isolepis). These are gravid females:




... and nicely marked males. These males in breeding colours have a yellow stripe on the face.




Central Netted Dragons (Ctenophorus nuchalis) were also common. Their behaviour is so strange. When they were basking on the road, I could usually step out of the car, lay down next to them and take as many photos as I want. If, however, they were basking on something natural such as a termite mound, they were almost impossible to approach.




Central Bearded Dragons (Pogona vitticeps) were particularly common this year. They are looked plump and had no doubt been eating some of the hordes of grasshoppers and locusts. These lizards change colour with their emotion. When displaying, they often became very pale above and their throat and chests were black. They would stand with their head held high and occasionally bob at other nearby dragons. Dragon and habitat.




These small skinks were common on the crests of the dunes. Someone suggested in an earlier report that these are Wedge-snout Ctenotus (Ctenotus brooksi).



Leonhard's Ctenotus (Ctenotus leonhardii) -- common on the spinifex flats.



Sand Goanna (Varanus gouldii) were common.



Yellow-spotted Monitor (Varanus panoptes): I always love to see these giant lizards. On this trip, I unfortunately only encountered this single animal. It was foraging in tall grass along a flowing creek. Despite its large size, I lost it immediately when it stepped off the road so I could not take any better photos.



Night driving produced some lovely geckos. These Smooth Knob-tailed Geckos (Nephrurus laevis) are such cuties:




This Easter Hooded Scaly-foot (Pygopus schraderi) -- This was my first sighting of this pretty pygopodid in Queensland.



Northern Spiny-tailed Gecko (Strophurus ciliaris). I saw many of these this year. They are similar to S. krisalys but are easy to separate if the mouth lining can be seen. S. ciliaris has an orange lining whereas that of S. krisalys is blue.




Snakes were surprisingly scarce. I saw three of these small Ringed Brown Snakes (Pseudonaja modesta). The juvenile was quite colourful but the adults were drab. Both adults had been clipped and were fatally injured.





Nice, fat kangaroos that were out foraging at dusk.



Animal life was abundant on the dunes. This was obvious the following morning when looking at all of the tracks in the sand.













Tomorrow, I will add photos from the Eyrean Basin.

Regards,
David

[Hilde]

Fantastic post again. I always look forward to reading your posts.
Thanks for all the work you put into this (and all the others) for us.

[Rob D'heu]

Again a very nice report . I always use your pictures when I need inspiration when I'm decorating my vivs .

[docwade87]

awesome pics!! Thanks for sharing!! My aunt and uncle are moving to Brisbain(sp.) this summer and I plan on going out there soon and doing some herping in the Queensland area. Glad you posted this, now I have some good ideas of where to look!! I have been waiting for quite some time to go over there and do this, now I have the chance. I can't wait

[Justin]

Beautiful David, excellent pics of a extraordinary area.

[warren63]

Great pics !!!

[moloch]

Thanks very much, everyone. Here is the second part of the post.

I always like to drive this one-lane road seems to lead nowhere at all and ends with dirt tracks that continue into the interior. This country is interesting with different animals to those of the red dunes.


This is the edge of the Eyrean Basin.





I saw a number of these "Road Trains". They were moving cattle mostly at night. They tended to travel in convoys of 4 or 5 vehicles that were spaced about a km apart. Their roar was ominous at night and I could hear them when they were a number of kms away. Slowly, the noise would grow in volume and then I would begin to see their flickering headlights. Once they were close, I pulled my car off the road as far as possible, waited for the beasts to flash past and hoped that they would not throw a rock through my windscreen. That has happened to me on two occasions so far.



Places like this were home to Ring-tailed Dragons (Ctenophorus caudicinctus):








Diamond Dove -- common small dove
Hall's Babbler -- an endemic to the channel country
Crested Bellbird -- has a lovely call that is difficult to locate.
Spinifex Pigeon -- The pigeons are quail-like. They tend to run and then explode into flight when frightened.








This area is usually rocky and almost devoid of small plants. It looked so different this year.



I looked for Fierce Snakes in this habitat where I saw one a few years ago. The plant cover this year was much to thick so it was not possible to spot basking snakes. I think that the Fierce Snakes would doing well at the moment and would be feasting on the abundant rats. Their population will probably increase in the next year or two. It was strange to walk around here and be eaten alive by mosquitoes during the day. They were unexpected in this normally arid environment.



There was a locust plague out on these plains. It was an eerie sight at dusk to see thousands and thousands of these insects take flight. Fortunately, most flew 3-5 m above the ground. I still needed to close my windows so that I did not get smacked in the side of the head by one of these big insects. Driving through the swarm felt really strange. I had to clean my radiator the next morning since it was packed with dead insects.



Tesselated Geckos (Diplodactylus tesselatus) were the common reptile here at night.



Eyrean Earless Dragons (Tympanocryptis tetraporiphora) were abundant in this sort of habitat. I saw many gravid females like the lizard in the first photo below as they basked on the road. When the day became hot, they often stood upright with their tails arched upward for balance.




I found two of these Curl or Myall Snakes (Suta suta) on the plains.



Tomorrow night, I will post photos taken while in transit to Windorah.

[moloch]

The following set of photos were taken while I headed back to Wollongong.

In this season of plenty, all of the animals seemed to be reproducing as quickly as possible. This shot of an Emu dad and his kids was typical (Emus are polyandrous). Most had troops of up to 10 young following them around. The dads were protective of their kids and they would often run towards me while the kids scampered away.



Pink or Major Mitchell's C ockatoos were numerous along the roads. I wish that I could capture one in flight but that is hard to do. The underwing linings are a beautiful salmon colour. They are really gorgeous birds.


Roadsides near Cunnamulla were lined with flowers.







Central Bearded Dragons (Pogona vitticeps) were common in the Cunnamulla area. I watched a territorial dispute between two of these males. They walked with their heads held high and their tails curled upwards. One approached the other and they both bobbed their heads. After awhile, one arched its back a little like a cat, then resumed the normal position and marched away. There was no contact at all between the males.







I normally see large numbers of Shinglebacks (Tiliqua rugosa) on trips through this area. For some reason, I only encountered this single, half-grown animal. It looked grumpy and displayed when I approached it for photos.




Monitors were common in this habitat.



Sand Goannas (Varanus gouldii) were particularly common but I also saw a few Black-headed Monitors (V. tristis). The following pair of Black-headed Monitors had me totally confused when I passed them at high speed. I glanced in the rear-view mirror but still could not recognize what I had just seen. I thought that it was something dead on the road but could not make it out. I spun the car around and returned to find this sight ... definitely not dead and in fact, quite enthusiastic!




Both Black-headed and Sand Goannas will readily climb trees.




Burn's Lashtails (Amphibolurus burnsi) were one of the common lizards on this trip. They lived in this open habitat as well as well wooded areas.




This dry, rather boring looking habitat near Bourke, NSW, was the home of a nice Jezabel.




These Spotted Jezabels (Delias aganippe) were common but they usually remained at tree-top height. I took a half-hour break here and finally found one that had perched low enough for a couple of photos.





At dusk, I made a detour from Bourke and continued driving south towards Cobar. The road that I followed borders on Gundabooka National Park. I have seen some interesting reptiles in this area before and since the evening was mild, I hoped to find a few others. This area proved to have received lots of rain like Queensland and their were pools of water on both sides of the road. I only found two reptiles including the following Prickly Gecko (Heteronotia binoei) and a Box-patterned Gecko (Lucasium steindachneri).





The highlight to me was finding one of the frogs that was high on my wish list. These are Holy Cross or Crucifix Toads (Notaden bennetti). The actually are frogs and not toads despite the name. These frogs are dormant underground for years until good rains arrive. They then dig their way to the surface and enter a breeding frenzy. When calling, they look so bizarre!






Common Spadefoot Toad (Neobatrachus sudelli) is another of the burrowing frogs. These were the most common frog around the roadside pools.



I saw a few of these Wrinkled Toadlets (Uperoleia rugosa):








Some mulla mullas (Ptilotus sp.) are colourful but this one was rather drab. I like their fluffy flowers.



I think that these are all members of Eremophila sp.





Regards,
David

[Graham_s]

Absolutely terrific stuff, David! Keep up the good work!

@Justin: I bet your favourite photo is the one of that lovely red sand isn't it?

[docwade87]

Great pictures David!! I can't wait to get out there and explore