G'day all,
I've got bored, so heres something I've put together this afternoon.
This is a quick run down of a 2 week trip i had in the West Kimberley. We were up their camping and doing a bit of exploring through the coastal areas. We were never more than about 10kms from the coast, and saw quite a few species that have incredibly limited distributions. We saw a heap of cool stuff, but i only got photos of a small percentage of it.
I had a great time, and i hope you all enjoy the photos. I apologise for putting my name on the photos, but a friend had some photos he'd posted copied and reused on another website without his permission. You can't be too careful!
First of all, some habitat shots.
This area is largely incredibly rugged King Leopold sandstone.Some areas are basalt intrusions. There are small patches of monsoonal rainforest at the base of sandstone cliffs. By and large i was getting around in the sandstone areas.
Here is the view from one of the hills we climbed.
One of the first critters we caught was the Superb dragon Diporiphora superba.
I found a pair sitting about 6ft from the ground in the branches of a Terminalia sp. in a shady, sheltered gully. Subsequent animals were found in low dense scrub with regrowth Eucalypts (probably 4 years since last burnt).
At night several gecko species were common on the rock platforms. Two Gehyra species and two Oedura species were the only gecko species found while we wsree out there.
Gehyra nana and Gehyra xenopus were two species commonly found on vertical rock faces at night and were often active in the late afternoon. Here is a Gehyra xenopus. I didn't get any shots of Gehyra nana on this trip.
Oedura obscura were frequently picked up in Acacia sp. on the rock platforms on warm nights. They were also picked up underneath flat rocks.
This specimen was sheltering beneath a rock with a Oedura gracilis.
Here he is with his friend!
Oedura gracilis are also incredibly common on the rock platforms. On warm nights adults and juveniles could be found running across open spaces on the rock platform.
A few interesting non-reptiles turned up, and i thought they were worth a photo or two.
Here is an interesting grasshopper
and scorpion!
Litoria coplandi were very common near water. Often seen sitting by the water at night.
More common were Litoria meiriana. They are able to jump across the water, earning them the common name "Jesus frog".
Both these frogs, and most likely the geckos, would be delicious morsels for this spotty little ratbag. Northern Quolls quickly became interested in our campsite, and attacked out powdered milk. Heres a photo of one cleaning himself after a foray to the food hamper.
Other mammal species sighted were Narbalek, Monjon and Golden Bandicoot.
Some of the most spectacular species we found are the two common goannas common to the west kimberley.
Varanus glebopalma juveniles were active during the day, hunting grasshoppers and foraging for other insects. Adults were also seen, but were harder to photograph.
The other species we saw was Varanus glauertii. They were commonly seen in the late afternoon on the rock platform. Very fast, very difficult to photograph.
And that concludes the report... I hope you enjoyed it, and hope it inspires you to come out and see some of this country!
All the best,
-H
I've got bored, so heres something I've put together this afternoon.
This is a quick run down of a 2 week trip i had in the West Kimberley. We were up their camping and doing a bit of exploring through the coastal areas. We were never more than about 10kms from the coast, and saw quite a few species that have incredibly limited distributions. We saw a heap of cool stuff, but i only got photos of a small percentage of it.
I had a great time, and i hope you all enjoy the photos. I apologise for putting my name on the photos, but a friend had some photos he'd posted copied and reused on another website without his permission. You can't be too careful!
First of all, some habitat shots.
This area is largely incredibly rugged King Leopold sandstone.Some areas are basalt intrusions. There are small patches of monsoonal rainforest at the base of sandstone cliffs. By and large i was getting around in the sandstone areas.
Here is the view from one of the hills we climbed.
One of the first critters we caught was the Superb dragon Diporiphora superba.
I found a pair sitting about 6ft from the ground in the branches of a Terminalia sp. in a shady, sheltered gully. Subsequent animals were found in low dense scrub with regrowth Eucalypts (probably 4 years since last burnt).
At night several gecko species were common on the rock platforms. Two Gehyra species and two Oedura species were the only gecko species found while we wsree out there.
Gehyra nana and Gehyra xenopus were two species commonly found on vertical rock faces at night and were often active in the late afternoon. Here is a Gehyra xenopus. I didn't get any shots of Gehyra nana on this trip.
Oedura obscura were frequently picked up in Acacia sp. on the rock platforms on warm nights. They were also picked up underneath flat rocks.
This specimen was sheltering beneath a rock with a Oedura gracilis.
Here he is with his friend!
Oedura gracilis are also incredibly common on the rock platforms. On warm nights adults and juveniles could be found running across open spaces on the rock platform.
A few interesting non-reptiles turned up, and i thought they were worth a photo or two.
Here is an interesting grasshopper
and scorpion!
Litoria coplandi were very common near water. Often seen sitting by the water at night.
More common were Litoria meiriana. They are able to jump across the water, earning them the common name "Jesus frog".
Both these frogs, and most likely the geckos, would be delicious morsels for this spotty little ratbag. Northern Quolls quickly became interested in our campsite, and attacked out powdered milk. Heres a photo of one cleaning himself after a foray to the food hamper.
Other mammal species sighted were Narbalek, Monjon and Golden Bandicoot.
Some of the most spectacular species we found are the two common goannas common to the west kimberley.
Varanus glebopalma juveniles were active during the day, hunting grasshoppers and foraging for other insects. Adults were also seen, but were harder to photograph.
The other species we saw was Varanus glauertii. They were commonly seen in the late afternoon on the rock platform. Very fast, very difficult to photograph.
And that concludes the report... I hope you enjoyed it, and hope it inspires you to come out and see some of this country!
All the best,
-H
