Gunbower Island & Mt. Hope DUW

[jordo]

Went up to Gunbower Island on the Murray with other naturalists from uni a few weeks ago for a bit of herping and birding. We were on the island for 4 or so days, got plenty of new birds and a couple of good herps...

Found this long neck on the road before we'd even arrived, the island was a mosaic of wetlands and there were old turtle shells all over the place

Upon entrance...

A few Boulenger's skinks out and about, we also got Lampropholis guichenoti around camp

Think this guy was a Little Friarbird but correct me if I'm wrong

Little Egret in this habitat shot

The habitat was great for frogs and our frogging at night revealled a few common species

L. tasmaniensis we also heard fletcheri.

Crinia parasignifera (males)

And plenty of Peron's about

My first RBB was very exciting, with no were to go beside a small dam it went for a swim to get away

We went canoeing in Euchuca towards the end of the trip, didn't take cameras for the risk of getting them wet but we saw a Yellow-bellied water skink on the southern bank of the Murray. On the way back to camp we came across this nice Bells Lacey crossing the road.

One the way home me and two other herpers stopped off at Mt. Hope for a few hours

We found a stumpy on the way to the top

At first we weren't getting much but soon Tree skinks started popping up from between the cracks

And back at the base again we ran into several C. robustus

Please don't reproduce these images without permission
cheers, jordan

 

[andyscott]

Nice pics Jordon.
The RBB look a bit thin, although there seemed to be plenty of pray around.

 

[saratoga]

"The RBB look a bit thin"......understatement of the year!
Perhaps it gave birth last summer and has not regained condition yet.

Great trip report.....thanks!

 

[jordo]

Thanks
Yeah the RBB was very lean, maybe it had a few parasites keeping its weight down?
Also sorry about the pic sizes of the crinia and lacey, must not have resized them.

 

[Rocket]

Great photos Jordo.

No geckos or pygopods this time?

 

[jordo]

Nope didn't turn up anything like that this trip.

 

[m.punja]

I went to mt hope last year, the ammount of tree skinks there is amazing, we had them buzzing around everywhere except it was kind of hot and we had no idea what they were as they were moving very fast.
All the RBBS I've seen in the last couple of years along the murray have been in that condition, it made me that sad I only dropped in once last year.

 

[jordo]

Any ideas what it might be Punja, plenty of frogs around for them.

 

[junglepython2]

Any ideas what it might be Punja, plenty of frogs around for them.

Maybe in that spot Jordo, but there are no where near as many frogs as there has been in the past. A lot of the once permanent water holes and lagoons have dried up in the last few years.

 

[jordo]

We only saw one RBB but a guy who arrived early spotted two more in a dried laggon, should have asked about there condition as well.

 

[Reptilian66]

Thanks for sharing your photo's of Gunbower and Mt Hope up in North Central Victoria on the Murray River Jordo.
l went up there twice in early 1997 for a weekend, and l saw Tree skinks along the river hiding under loose tree bark, and on Mt Hope in rock crevices l saw close to 100 Black-Rock Skinks and Cunningham Skinks everywhere in pairs.
Are you shaw the photo you posted on here is not a Black-Rock Skink, to me it looks more like one of those that l saw plenty of on Mt Hope.

Cheers,

Les.

 

[jordo]

We thought they were black rock skinks at first as well but I've been told by knowledgeable herper that they don't occur that far north and he'd been to Mt. Hope and only seen tree skinks... I personally don't know the difference though.

 

[Bench_Warmer01]

All The Red-Bellied Black's I have seen in the last 2 months have either been gravid,or looking like that animal, I would say it has recently given birth.

 

[dee4]

Nice work Jordo.
I would tend to agree with reptilian66 that it's a Block Rock Skink. Try here for some pics and distribution of the Blac Rock & Tree skink.
http://flyaqis.museum.vic.gov.au/cgi-bin/texhtml
When we visited that area last year the Skinks were everywhere, fast little critters, doen well to get pics.

 

[eipper]

They are not saxatilis there...only striolata

palm colouration is the key out feature....however saxatilis do not occur at Mt Hope

Cheers,
Scott

 

[jordo]

Thanks for all your comments, I just got back from another 2 week trip - pics soon.

 

[Cheesecake]

Don't let the "tree" in "Tree Skink" fool you like it did me! I've seen them on rocky outcrops toward the Murray in the past and always assumed they were saxatilis until recently told otherwise.

Great pics Jordo. Looking forward to seeing the lot from Gluepot.

Cheers,
Dave.

 

[moloch05]

Some nice finds there, Jordo. You were correct about the Little Friarbird id.

Looking forward to pics from your next trip.

Regards,
David