Past Few Weeks of Herping

[GeckPhotographer]

So I thought I'd post some pictures I've taken over the past 3 weeks herping in Southeast Qld and Sydney Olympic Park.




Firstly some Bell Frogs, part of the population in Sydney Olympic Park's Brick Pit. Most people seem to like this frog because of the striking colours, but I honestly find them terribly ugly and much prefer some of the small brown mud living frogs others overlook.

Litoria aurea by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Litoria aurea by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Litoria aurea by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Litoria aurea by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Litoria aurea by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Litoria aurea by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr


The rest of the pictures were taken in Southeast Qld, doing 20min reptile surveys on farm properties, some with a fair bit of habitat, others with little to no habitat.


These were pretty geckos, they weren't very active and weren't actually found during the surveys but some were around on some rocks behind the caravan park we stayed at for a couple nights and I wanted to photograph them.

Oedura tryoni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Oedura tryoni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Oedura tryoni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Oedura tryoni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Oedura tryoni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Oedura tryoni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Oedura tryoni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Oedura tryoni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr


A Skink that's very common in a lot of places but I didn't have pictures of before, this one was about the only thing we found in a paddock where even the grass was grazed to a cm, and no other cover existed, so I had plenty of time to take pictures.

Morethia boulengeri by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Morethia boulengeri by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Morethia boulengeri by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr


Another species found on the rocks behind the Caravan Park (among 10 species we found poking around those rocks, most not photographed). Dragon people feel free to correct my ID if it's wrong, I really hate small Amphibolurus/Diporiphora in Eastern Australia, the different Genders look just as different as the species to me.

Diporiphora nobbi by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Diporiphora nobbi by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr


I was pretty stoked to find this on a farm that actually had really great habitat, one shelting under a log and a second under a small rock. Unfortunately they had recently burnt so not many photography sites without burnt out grass etc, but hey that's where they were. First Delma I've caught, and I do believe the same species as the one I almost caught in WA.

Delma tincta by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Delma tincta by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Delma tincta by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Delma tincta by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Delma tincta by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Delma tincta by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr


And you know a skink that occurs barely 20 minutes from where I live but I had to go to Southeast Qld to get pictures of one, as it goes.

Ctenotus robustus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr


Hope you enjoy.

 

[SamNabz]

Great pics, Steve. I absolutely love the first one, brilliant shot mate!

 

[Jande]

I practically drool every time I see your photography. Brilliant as always and thanks for sharing.

 

[vicherps]

Nice finds and photography. How long have you been doing herp surveys for just out of curiosity?

 

[cheekabee]

Nice finds man, I love the delma, I've found a couple of striped Delma near Melbourne.

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Thanks guys I appreciate the compliments.

Vic - Um I assume how many years, not how long the trip was (if wrong correct me), hard question to answer, I've been involved with whole bunches of different surveys and a Uni course that teaches survey techniques since I was born (obviously 'involved' being a loose term). It's probably better to define on either of two things, both of which would be early this year. That is either the first time I went on a survey that had no connection to my father or people that worked for my father, or the first time I got paid for surveying. So.... a few months at an independent level? My whole life at a my fathers work involves surveys (as you know) level. I really like trying to build contacts outside those people I already know to lead to more exciting opportunities than I've ever had just working with my father.


Cheekabee that's awesome, I love Delma too now, so much character and just awesome looking things. Those D.impar look a whole lot bigger than these D.tincta though, I was surprised how tiny they are. (Though according to the Wilson Swan length it makes them juvenile, seeing as they had faded head bands I was considering sub-adults and they might be larger elsewhere in their range, but I don't know.)

 

[vicherps]

Thanks guys I appreciate the compliments.

Vic - Um I assume how many years, not how long the trip was (if wrong correct me), hard question to answer, I've been involved with whole bunches of different surveys and a Uni course that teaches survey techniques since I was born (obviously 'involved' being a loose term). It's probably better to define on either of two things, both of which would be early this year. That is either the first time I went on a survey that had no connection to my father or people that worked for my father, or the first time I got paid for surveying. So.... a few months at an independent level? My whole life at a my fathers work involves surveys (as you know) level. I really like trying to build contacts outside those people I already know to lead to more exciting opportunities than I've ever had just working with my father.


Cheekabee that's awesome, I love Delma too now, so much character and just awesome looking things. Those D.impar look a whole lot bigger than these D.tincta though, I was surprised how tiny they are. (Though according to the Wilson Swan length it makes them juvenile, seeing as they had faded head bands I was considering sub-adults and they might be larger elsewhere in their range, but I don't know.)

I was referring to the how long you have been doing surveys in general which you answered but not how long the specific trip was. Thanks for the reply though. I don't think Delma tincta is smaller than a Delma impar. Wilson and swans book notes a svl length of 92mm for tincta and 100mm for impar. It also says that the tail length is nearly 4 times the length the body in tincta and 2.5-3 times the length of the body in impar do the math and tincta according to the field guide is longer in tl (total length). So I agree if you say impar is longer in svl (on average according to arod) but not necessarily overall. Anyway they are roughly similar in length although the width of the 2 species is another thing although I have actually seen impar whilst on a Striped Legless Lizard survey and I was surprised how narrow and small it was (even though it didn't have it's whole tail).

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Micah, I mean those specific Delma tincta I saw on this trip, I don't need math to say they could fit into my hand way better than that impar in those photos could. Besides Delam tincta is one of (the?) most widespread Delma species, and I'll bet there's huge variation over that range. In fact just look at those photos the vent is clearly visible and more than half way down the body, yet upper labials, preanals and internasals all key it out to tincta.

 

[vicherps]

Micah, I mean those specific Delma tincta I saw on this trip, I don't need math to say they could fit into my hand way better than that impar in those photos could. Besides Delam tincta is one of (the?) most widespread Delma species, and I'll bet there's huge variation over that range. In fact just look at those photos the vent is clearly visible and more than half way down the body, yet upper labials, preanals and internasals all key it out to tincta.

Perhaps if stretched out you may find the tail length is longer than you predicted. Besides I was givin reference to adult average lengths rather not full grown specimen lengths and given the specimen you found was not full grown you could expect for it to grow more (some parts of the any animal grow faster than others). It is a tincta and never said it was anything else.

Btw nice boulengeri pics was it moving a lot or not much at all?