pics from Royal and Heathcote

[moloch05]

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:



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.



Heath of Royal:



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



...original tails were long:



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



... 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):



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.








... juvenile Copper-tailed Skink.




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













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







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






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



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





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):



juvenile Eastern Water Dragon (Physignathus lesueurii):



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.



Preying Mantis:



New Holland Honeyeater:



Regards,
David

[redbellybite]

the pics are great this is what i like to see nature at its best ...........thanks

[ben1200]

awesome pics thanks

[gexgex]

Praying mantis looks magic.

[willia6]

that red-belly sure was a good Photo taken not blury wich is weird for fast moving objects

[Paul Atkinson]

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.

[Tirilia]

Beautiful pictures! Well Done!

[ryanharvey1993]

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

[moloch05]

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

[hazzard]

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!!

[JasonL]

Hard to take a poor picture in the Shire Hazz, but you know that

[warren63]

Great pics. Spent many a day surfing at Garie or Little Era never noticed any herps back then except the odd snakey.

[moloch05]

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.





... a "striking snake"?



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.



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.



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.



... flying New Holland Honeyeater



... Darwinia




Regards,
David

[trader]

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!

[moloch05]

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.







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






Coast Banksia (B. integrifolia)




Silver Banksia (B. marginata)



Saw Banksia (B. serrata)