Pilbara herping trip jan 2012

[luzek]

A colleague and I recently got back from a herping trip through the Pilbara ranges. We were hoping to travel further north to the port headland area to try our luck for some Womas and Black headeds but unfortunately we were hit by the full force of mother nature. When it rains up there it seriously rains! On one day it rained for 13 hours straight, transforming the dry, sun scorched landscape to a series of lakes for as far as the eye could see. Due to the very real chance of being hit by a cyclone we decided to cut our losses and head home after four nights. Frustratingly we had some problems with the photography due to our lenses constantly fogging up on some nights due to the humidity. Anyway here's the pick of the bunch hope you enjoy!





Varanus panoptes Cue area


Caimanopes amphiboluroides we found several gravid females sunning themselves north of Paynes Find.


Ctenophorus nuchalis Mt Magnet area


Spinifex habitat near Hamersley gorge


Fruit Bats Pteropus alecto roosting in trees at the base of a gorge


fig tree near fern pool Karijini national park


Hamersley Gorge






Ctenophorus caudicinctus this species was abundant right throughout the ranges and rocky areas.


Amphibolurus longirostris


Antaresia stimsoni


Acanthophis wellsi these animals are truly impressive, this snake though was certainly not the most impressive example of A. wellsi we sighted. I personally like much darker bands in them and we found some that had perfectly black contrasting bands, however none of these were photographed due to camera issues.


furina ornata


Diplodactylus conspicillatus


Lucasium stenodactylum


Oedura marmorata interesting pilbara colour form.


Nephrurus wheeleri cinctus. Easily my favourite species in the genus. interestingly we found several males with re-gen tails. This species was very common on overcast nights especially when the humidity reached 80% or higher.


Strophurus wellingtonae


Strophurus jeanae


Ctenotus saxatilis


Carlia munda


Eremiascincus fasciolatus


Egernia formosa

Total species list:

Frogs:
Cyclorana maini
Litoria rubella

Geckoes:
Diplodactylus conspicillatus
Lucasium stenodactylum
Gehyra pilbara
Gehyra variegata
Heteronotia binoei
Nephrurus wheeleri cinctus
Oedura Marmorata
Rhynchoedura ornata
Strophurus jeanae
Strophurus wellingtonae

Skinks:
Carlia munda
Cryptoblepharus ustulatus
Ctenotus saxatilis
Egernia formosa
Eremiascincus fasciolatus

Dragons:
Amphibolurus longirostris
Caimanops amphiboluroides
Ctenophorus caudicinctus
Ctenophorus isolepis isolepis
Ctenophorus nuchalis
Pogona minor (minor/mitchelli)

Monitors:
Varanus gouldii
Varanus panoptes

Legless lizard:
Lialis burtonis

Snakes:
Acanthophis wellsi
Antaresia perthensis
Antaresia stimsoni
Furina ornata
Pseudechis australis
Pseudonaja mengdeni

Other:
Ardeotis australis
Pteropus alecto

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Nice pictures I like the wheels, jaenae and caimonops best in that order.

 

[richoman_3]

stunning photos and finds !

 

[moloch05]

Nice collection of photos, Luzek. I really like the shot of Caimanopes amphiboluroides. Hope to see one of those someday.

Regards,
David

 

[luzek]

Hi david, caimanops amphiboluroides is new to me. This species was quite prevalent in the densely vegetated Mulga woodlands just north of Paynes Find. We must have come at a good time, because every female we sighted was gravid.

regards,
Jack

 

[edstar]

Great finds mate

 

[mmafan555]

Where were the death adders seen at? And are the common in that area?

 

[Niall]

Great photos!

Looks like we both were up at the same time when the cyclone hit.
We had no luck with womas and BHP because it was full moon when we got up there.

Last trip I did last year, I found both Womas and BHPs. Hit and miss like they say.

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/...-studies-5373/pilbara-trip-stood-rest-178552/

Cheers,
Niall

 

[luzek]

Within there habitat i would say they are quite common. conditions permitting e.g a good moon phase and good humidity (80%+). It would be reasonably probable to find several animals in a night.

Cheers Niall,

How funny! We would have almost certainly crossed paths! Your photos of wellsi are great! awesome specimens..Did you have any luck with wheeleri around the Panawonica area? It seems we both got dealt a very average moon phase. My mate and i were actually quite lucky on a few nights where the cloud cover was so dense that it completely covered the moon all together. The conditions where we were got so bad in the end that it just would have been a total waste of time continuing any further north, which was a shame and a disappointment as i would have loved to photograph some BHP's and Womas.

Cheers,
Jack

 

[Niall]

Didn't find one wheeleri around panawonica area, it was one of the species to find a photograph.
Always got next time

 

[luzek]

thats it mate theres always next time. p.s whats the trick with posting photos on the pilbara pythons forum? i tried with no success.

 

[ssssmithy]

nice pics mate. love the Wheeleri

smithy.

 

[Niall]

Attachments have got to be lower then 180KB per post.
I just use photobucket, just post the URLs up.

 

[luzek]

yeah it was quite odd, i compressed my jpegs to well under 180KB. still no luck

 

[mmafan555]

Within there habitat i would say they are quite common. conditions permitting e.g a good moon phase and good humidity (80%+). It would be reasonably probable to find several animals in a night.

Cheers Niall,

How funny! We would have almost certainly crossed paths! Your photos of wellsi are great! awesome specimens..Did you have any luck with wheeleri around the Panawonica area? It seems we both got dealt a very average moon phase. My mate and i were actually quite lucky on a few nights where the cloud cover was so dense that it completely covered the moon all together. The conditions where we were got so bad in the end that it just would have been a total waste of time continuing any further north, which was a shame and a disappointment as i would have loved to photograph some BHP's and Womas.

Cheers,
Jack

Thanks for the reply...Just out of curiosity if I do eventually get to Australia and went herping and I went to the Pilbara...where would be the best place to go look for these Pilbara Death Adders? Would Exmouth be a good place to start out at?

 

[hazza88]

You was probably around pannawonica area when i was busy working out on the mine doing night shift did you get a chance to see any of the big olive pythons around pannawonica and fortescue river?

 

[Niall]

I was sure looking out for some.
Ended up going to most areas that I know where Olives are found and have been seen, but all we got was massive craps and skin.

 

[hazza88]

I was sure looking out for some.
Ended up going to most areas that I know where Olives are found and have been seen, but all we got was massive craps and skin.

on your way into pannawonica on your left hand side before the turn off to the mine site theres a a sewage farm there and a big 4m resident olive lives there got some good photos ill upload when i can be bothered. We always get them coming onto the hall road at work and we relocated on from the beer garden in town. Too bad you didnt see any theres been heaps out lately

 

[jamesjr]

on your way into pannawonica on your left hand side before the turn off to the mine site theres a a sewage farm there and a big 4m resident olive lives there got some good photos ill upload when i can be bothered. We always get them coming onto the hall road at work and we relocated on from the beer garden in town. Too bad you didnt see any theres been heaps out lately

Please upload, very keen to see some barroni pics.

 

[luzek]

Hi mmafan555,

I have found wellsi right through the exmouth area but they are typically less impressive than the animals found further north east. This is probably for a few reasons and one being that it is a possible hybrid zone with A. pyrrhus. this would explain the lighter banding.