Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

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StephenZozaya
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Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by StephenZozaya »

The following post is adapted from my blog, Saurian Obsessions.
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Easter, with all the public holidays it entails, is the perfect time to escape urbanity and experience nature. Stewdawg and I decided to celebrate our pagan ways by paying homage to the great Herp Gods. We would travel to the desolate interior of Queensland to earn the favour—maybe just glimpse—one of the most venomous snakes on Earth. Or at least we’d give it a good try. We loaded up the Critter Cruiser with the essentials—gummy bears, sour worms, chocolate, toilet paper—and began the drive west.

We set off late Wednesday afternoon, arriving at the town of Hughenden about four hours later. From there we went north to camp at Porcupine Gorge. Other than a single black-headed python (Aspidites melanocephalus) crossing the road and a prickly knob-tailed gecko (Nephrurus asper) near camp, we didn’t encounter much reptile life, though our hopes were high for the days to come.

Image This black-headed python (Aspidites melanocephalus) was found crossing the road near Hughenden.


The following day was spent driving several hundred kilometres across the blacksoil plains of the Mitchell Grass Downs. Several neat critters inhabit this desolate, never ending expanse of grassland, but none of them were kind enough to show themselves. We didn’t even see a roadkilled snake. Nothing.


After about five hours of driving we reached the town of Longreach, where we spent some time getting lunch and picking up a few key pieces of equipment that we managed to forget (e.g., a saucepan to actually cook our food in). Soon after we met up with Angus Emmott—avid naturalist, author, and custodian of the nearby Noonbah Station. Angus kindly agreed to let us spend some time at Noonbah searching for reptiles. We set off from Longreach, once again hoping to see something interesting cross the road. We didn’t.

Image Mitchell grass plains south-west of Longreach. We stopped to admire some flock bronzewings.


Angus has the honour of having several animals named after him, including two reptiles: the skink Lerista emmotti, and the Cooper Creek turtle (Emydura macquarii emmotti). The Lerista was high on our list of animals to see, and Noonbah has plenty of them.
Image A small Lerista emmotti.

Image A large L. emmotti.


Spotlighting that night produced a few geckos, but not much else.
Image

Image Kristin’s spiny-tailed gecko (Strophurus krisalys).

Image

Image Strophurus krisalys habitat.


Image Bynoe’s gecko (Heteronotia binoei).


Image I also photographed some Gehyra dubia that were running around the house. This gecko was foraging for insects near a light.



Late last year, Angus co-authored a paper (Couper et al. 2012) describing a new species of dragon known only from the Goneaway Tablelands of Western Queensland: Diporiphora ameliae. The dragon—named for his daughter, Amelia—inhabits areas dominated by spinifex on stony soils. We were fortunate enough to have Angus take us out to search for this species. We began seeing basking dragons perched high in spinifex not long after reaching suitable habitat. Excitement!
Image A gravid female Diporiphora ameliae basks on a spinifex hummock.

Image
A male D. ameliae in breeding colours sits perched on a stick.


Image We also saw a few Ctenotus running around, including this C. hebetior.



That afternoon we left Noonbah and drove a few hundred kilometres south-west to the town of Windorah. A bit before reaching the town we found a large and impressive yellow-spotted monitor (Varanus panoptes) crossing the road.
Image
Image

Image Yellow-spotted monitor (Varanus panoptes)



After following the goanna around for a few minutes we continued to Windorah, where we fueled up the Critter Cruiser and set off to some sandy spinifex habitat to search for geckos. We were now in range of jewelled geckos (Strophurus elderi), a species that I was desperate to see and intended to find, even if it took me all night. These small geckos inhabit large spinifex hummocks, making them difficult to spot and even more difficult to photograph—spinifex is sharp and painful. I began searching just as the sun was setting, and it wasn’t long before I spotted a pair of eyes belonging to a little spotted gecko sitting at the edge of a hummock. But as I approached the gecko bolted into the centre of the hummock, never to be seen again. Dammit! This happened about six more times; the spinifex hummocks were huge and impenetrable, and the geckos were just too flighty. Eventually I found two geckos that were polite enough to stay put for long enough.
Image
Image Jewelled gecko (Strophurus elderi) #1

Image Jewelled gecko (Strophurus elderi) #2


Image Smooth knob-tailed geckos (Nephrurus levis levis) are an inhabitant of sandy desert environments across much of Australia.

Image These are seriously cute geckos.



Content with our success, we hopped back into the Critter Cruiser and drove west to the Morney Plain, our target destination. Arriving late, we rolled out our swags immediately and went to sleep. Well, Stewdawg did; I was still very awake and decided to take some landscape photos by moonlight.

Image My swag and the Morney Plain by the light of the moon. In a soil crack somewhere nearby, an inland taipan slumbers.



The entire next day was spent searching for inland taipans, the target species of the trip. We drove and drove and searched and searched but saw very little. By midday it was too hot to find much of anything except bearded dragons, and even they were few and far between. The flies, however, were abundant, and more than happy to buzz around my face, constantly threatening to go up my nose, in my eye, or be accidentally inhaled. All of that happened a few times.

Image Central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps)


Image
Image Sand dunes and claypans. We saw lots of reptile tracks on the dunes, but no actual reptiles.


Image



Image Rain on the Morney Plain.


Image Tessellated gecko (Diplodactylus tessellatus)



The following day wasn’t much better; the rain had mostly stopped, but it was still cloudy and cool. Nevertheless, we spent most of the day continuing the search for a taipan. As hours passed by with no snakes and no change of weather, we admitted defeat and headed back to Windorah.

Image A sand monitor (Varanus gouldii) sitting on the road.

Image A wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax) perched on a sand dune.

Image
The Critter Cruiser.



That night we continued from Windorah back north-east towards Longreach, encountering a few more tesselated geckos, a Burton’s legless lizard (Lialis burtonis), and several curl snakes (Suta suta), none of which I photographed. However, I did photograph a few geckos I found on trees while having a quick stretch on the side of the road.

Image
Tree dtella (Gehyra variegata)


Image
Juvenile marbled velvet gecko (Oedura marmorata).


Image
An adult O. marmorata with regenerated tail.



We spent the morning of our final day checking dead hollow trees for gidgee skinks (Egernia stokesii). We found several lodged deep in hollow trees, which isn’t exactly conducive to photography. Nevertheless, we were both happy to see a new species, which made the entire lack of reptiles on the nine hour drive home a bit more bearable.


We stopped at the BP Roadhouse in Hughenden for consolation potato gems (tater tots to my fellow Americans). They serve a ridiculous amount of greasy, fried potato for a cheap price.
Image
Happy potato gems for disappointed herpers.


We also stopped at a dam near Pentland for a few minutes of bird watching. I had just seen pink-eared ducks for the first time two days previously, and they instantly became my favourite duck. I didn’t manage to take any decent photos that day, but fortunately there were plenty at this dam, and I managed to get at least one usable photo.
Image Pink-eared ducks.


That about wraps up this trip report. I had a great time, despite our failure to find an inland taipan. I love the arid zone, plus I got to see five new reptile species.



Refs
Couper, P.J., Melville, J., Emmott, A. & Chapple, S.N.J. (2012) A new species of Diporiphora from the Goneaway Tabelands of Western Queensland. Zootaxa, 3556, 39–54.
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Mike Pingleton
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by Mike Pingleton »

Awesome post! That Varanus panoptes is an impressive animal. And I never get tired of seeing Strophurus!

-Mike
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moloch
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by moloch »

What an excellent post, Stephen! Loved the V. panoptes shot on the road. They are such incredible beasts. It was good to hear that you saw a number of Jewelled Geckos.

Regards,
David
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mrichardson
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by mrichardson »

Great post. I envy that fact you can just drive off into the bush (albeit for several hours) and see such a large selection of herps. Nice to see the roadhouses are still serving such high quality food.
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krisbell
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by krisbell »

Lovely stuff SMZ4 - for a post about a snake you never find its pretty interesting! Who's pic of an inland taipan are you currently using on your new app before you can finally swap it out for a pic of your own?
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TravisK
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by TravisK »

I have a soft spot for all the Oz post on FHF. Good job and thanks for sharing.
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StephenZozaya
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by StephenZozaya »

Thanks, everyone. The Varanus panoptes was indeed very impressive.
krisbell wrote:Who's pic of an inland taipan are you currently using on your new app before you can finally swap it out for a pic of your own?
At the moment we have a photo by Rob Valentic and another of a captive animal taken by Stewart. We'll hopefully have a few more in the next update showing summer/winter colouration.
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Rothdigga
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by Rothdigga »

This post ruled. All of the Aussie geckos are impressive to me. So much variety. I really need to make a trek for herping down there (I've been 2 times for work but was mostly city bound).
I may hit you guys up sometime for me to plan a trip. Great photography of the Spiny Tailed Geckos and the Jewelled Geckos.
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Roki
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by Roki »

Awesome post! I love all the gecko shots especially. Thanks for sharing.
Roki
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Rich in Reptiles
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by Rich in Reptiles »

Australian posts never fail to impress me!!!!!! Strophurus are my favorite geckos!
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

woah....the only reason I've never been to Oz so far are the intimidating dimensions. Think America without inhabitants. Not perfect for a ten-day jaunt, that country. I'll have to wait until retirement, I guess....

Oh, awesome photography, as always. :-)
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justinm
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by justinm »

Strophurus is always a treat to see. These are great geckos. The Perentie looked like a big bruiser, great shots of that one.
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StephenZozaya
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by StephenZozaya »

Again—thanks, everyone!

I see there is a large demand for Strophurus; I'll keep that in mind for future posts.



Stephen
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chrish
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by chrish »

Very nice. That Jeweled Strophurus is gorgeous.

I agree about Pink-eared Ducks - really a neat duck.
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Jeff Lemm
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by Jeff Lemm »

Great post! I need to find the slide I have of a Diporiphora in WA - looks nothing like any I have seen - red and green
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Field Herper
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by Field Herper »

Great post Stephen. You write very well and your photography is excellent. I enjoyed the narrative as much as the pics. I particularly like the close-ups and the field guide type shot of the krisalys, which has a beautiful arrangement and composition. What gear are you using for these shots?
Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

Oz needs more farmers like Angus Emmott. 8-)
Jeff Lemm wrote:Great post! I need to find the slide I have of a Diporiphora in WA - looks nothing like any I have seen - red and green
Did you end up finding your slide? We might be able to ID it for you.
NACairns
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by NACairns »

Great post, the photo's are outstanding and as is the narrative. I love the gecko diversity.
Thank you for posting,
Nick
Knormal
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Re: Eremean Easter: south-west Queensland, Australia

Post by Knormal »

StephenZozaya wrote: Image
At first glance I thought that gecko had spikes on its tongue, it freaked me out.
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