My wife and I went on a walk to Cape Raoul in the Tasman National Park yesterday. This park is about an hour and a half drive to the northeast of Hobart, Tasmania. The trail to Cape Raoul passed though eucalyptus woodland before emerging into heath on the cape itself. The coastline of the Tasman peninsula is spectacular and rugged.
It is autumn and the days are cooling fast in Tasmania. We were fortunate to have good weather and the temperature warmed to about 20C, warm enough for a few reptiles. I did not see any snakes but did find a number of skinks.
Here are pics of the habitats and then animals that we encountered:
After walking for an hour, we reached this lookout where we could see Cape Raoul in the distance:
... rocks at the cape. The white area was a colony of pinnipeds -- I don't know whether they were fur seals or sea lions.
Ocellated Skinks (
Niveoscincus ocellatus) were abundant on the cliffs at the cape. I think that these are nicely marked lizards.
... the head of one is barely visible in the centre of this photo. It had a great view from its home on the cliff.
I believe this to be a Metallic Skink (
Niveoscincus metallicus) due to the enlarged paravertebral scales. These were also a common species.
Metallic Skinks and Tasmanian Tree Skinks (
Niveoscincus pretiosus) are very similar species. I could not see enlarged scales on the backs of these skinks so I think them to be Tasmania Tree Skinks rather than Metallic Skinks but I am not certain of the id.
The only other reptile sighted was a single Eastern Three-striped Skink (
Acritoscincus duperreyi) that disappeared before I could take a photo.
We saw a few flocks of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. The birds appeared to be feeding an Casaurina seed pods.
I like these signs that we saw along the drive to the national park. Unfortunately, we would need to travel at night to actually see the Devils.
