moloch05
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2006
- Messages
- 772
- Reaction score
- 8
Kalbarri National Park was the second stop on our trip to the west. This park is about a 7 hour drive north of Perth and it is one of my favourite places in Western Australia. The park is in the heart of the wild flower country and it has an incredibly rich flora. I will be posting many flower shots in the second of the Kalbarri posts.
Angie and I spent two nights in the town of Kalbarri. On our one full day in the area, we headed out to the gorge section of Kalbarri National Park for a walk one morning. The walk was not long, only 8 km, and it followed the meandering gorge carved by the Murchison River. The river has exposed rocks that were once the floor of an ancient sea. The walls of the gorge were red from the abundant iron oxides that were deposited over the millennia. The views were stunning and I would highly recommend the walk to anyone who visits this incredible national park. Below are a number of shots from the walk:
Eucalyptus in the gorge had smooth, white bark. Mulga trees and bottlebrush were also abundant.
The habitat in the gorge was completely different to that in the sand country above the gorge. There were few flowering shrubs but many annuals.
The most common reptile that we encountered was the Long-nosed Dragon (Amphibolurus longirostre). These lizards can be wary but on this day, they all allowed me to approach closely. I suppose that this had to do with the mild rather than hot temperatures. These lizards, along with Gilbert's Dragons, are sometimes known as "Ta-ta" lizards due the way that they wave their front legs at an intruder. One male began waving when I approached. Later, it also bobbed its head to try to get me to move away.
... females
... males
This is a lousy photo but it was a new skink to me. This Morethia butleri was sunning on the trunk of a Mulga Tree. It was one of three possible Morethia skinks from Kalbarri but it was the only individual of this genus that I encountered.
Kalbarri is the home of several species of Ctenotus skinks. Members of this genus are often hard to identify but I think by range and pattern that this would be a C. fallens, a fairly widespread species in the west.
I was very excited once when I saw a strange brown tail disappear into a crevice. I did not notice the fur and could not think what "lizard" it might be. I sat and waited a few minutes to eventually see this cute little marsupial emerge. I believe that it was a Fat-tailed Dunnart, a small, carnivourous marsupial.
My wife, Angie, at "The Window" near the start/end of the walk. My wife is not interested in birds or reptiles but she loves travel as long as I don't take her too far out into the outback. For some strange reason, she does not find these remote, hot, dusty, fly-infested habitats to be all that interesting even after a great deal of training. I am lucky, though, that she does love walking as long as conditions are not too harsh.
I went night driving on of our nights in Kalbarri. As usual, the nights were cool and windy and it rained on my second night in the park. I found a single snake in two nights of driving, a Southern Shovel-nosed Snake (Brachyurophis semifasciatus). This little elapid is a reptile egg specialist so it would not doubt be eating often at the moment since so many geckos were carrying eggs.
Geckos were numerous. I saw several Western Stone Geckos (Diplodactylis granariensis). Most looked like these two:
... but one was different and very nicely marked. I am not certain but I think that it was a Western Stone Gecko rather than the similar Ornate Gecko (Diplodacytlus ornatus)
This was my third trip to Kalbarri National Park but it was the first time that I found Beautiful Geckos (Diplodactylus pulcher).
I saw a few White-spotted Ground Geckos (Lucasium alboguttatum):
Soft Spiny-tailed Geckos (Strophurus spinigerus) were abundant, but I failed to find any Western Spiny-tailed Geckos (Strophurus strophurus) as I have on earlier visits. Strophurus are certainly photogenic lizards with their incredible eyes.
I only found a single Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko (Nephrurus levis occidentalis):
I also found a Tessallated Gecko (Heteronotia binoei) that I was not able to photograph and this Variegated Gecko (Gehyra variegata):
It rained while I was driving on my second night at Kalbarri. Most geckos disappeared by I saw a few Soft Spiny-tailed Geckos walking around with water dripping off their backs. Frogs appeared almost as soon as the rains commenced. I saw several species including these plump Western Spotted Frogs (Heleioporus albopunctatus):
I am not certain about the identity of this frog. It looks like a member of Neobatrachis but I did not hear the call which is the best feature for separating the similar species. To me, it most resembles a Kunapalari Frog (Neobatrachis kunapalari) but I cannot be certain as to the identity.
I also saw many of these tiny toadlets. It looks the most like a Western Toadlet (Pseudophryne occidentalis) to me but I am not certain of this identification.
Regards,
David
Angie and I spent two nights in the town of Kalbarri. On our one full day in the area, we headed out to the gorge section of Kalbarri National Park for a walk one morning. The walk was not long, only 8 km, and it followed the meandering gorge carved by the Murchison River. The river has exposed rocks that were once the floor of an ancient sea. The walls of the gorge were red from the abundant iron oxides that were deposited over the millennia. The views were stunning and I would highly recommend the walk to anyone who visits this incredible national park. Below are a number of shots from the walk:
Eucalyptus in the gorge had smooth, white bark. Mulga trees and bottlebrush were also abundant.
The habitat in the gorge was completely different to that in the sand country above the gorge. There were few flowering shrubs but many annuals.
The most common reptile that we encountered was the Long-nosed Dragon (Amphibolurus longirostre). These lizards can be wary but on this day, they all allowed me to approach closely. I suppose that this had to do with the mild rather than hot temperatures. These lizards, along with Gilbert's Dragons, are sometimes known as "Ta-ta" lizards due the way that they wave their front legs at an intruder. One male began waving when I approached. Later, it also bobbed its head to try to get me to move away.
... females
... males
This is a lousy photo but it was a new skink to me. This Morethia butleri was sunning on the trunk of a Mulga Tree. It was one of three possible Morethia skinks from Kalbarri but it was the only individual of this genus that I encountered.
Kalbarri is the home of several species of Ctenotus skinks. Members of this genus are often hard to identify but I think by range and pattern that this would be a C. fallens, a fairly widespread species in the west.
I was very excited once when I saw a strange brown tail disappear into a crevice. I did not notice the fur and could not think what "lizard" it might be. I sat and waited a few minutes to eventually see this cute little marsupial emerge. I believe that it was a Fat-tailed Dunnart, a small, carnivourous marsupial.
My wife, Angie, at "The Window" near the start/end of the walk. My wife is not interested in birds or reptiles but she loves travel as long as I don't take her too far out into the outback. For some strange reason, she does not find these remote, hot, dusty, fly-infested habitats to be all that interesting even after a great deal of training. I am lucky, though, that she does love walking as long as conditions are not too harsh.
I went night driving on of our nights in Kalbarri. As usual, the nights were cool and windy and it rained on my second night in the park. I found a single snake in two nights of driving, a Southern Shovel-nosed Snake (Brachyurophis semifasciatus). This little elapid is a reptile egg specialist so it would not doubt be eating often at the moment since so many geckos were carrying eggs.
Geckos were numerous. I saw several Western Stone Geckos (Diplodactylis granariensis). Most looked like these two:
... but one was different and very nicely marked. I am not certain but I think that it was a Western Stone Gecko rather than the similar Ornate Gecko (Diplodacytlus ornatus)
This was my third trip to Kalbarri National Park but it was the first time that I found Beautiful Geckos (Diplodactylus pulcher).
I saw a few White-spotted Ground Geckos (Lucasium alboguttatum):
Soft Spiny-tailed Geckos (Strophurus spinigerus) were abundant, but I failed to find any Western Spiny-tailed Geckos (Strophurus strophurus) as I have on earlier visits. Strophurus are certainly photogenic lizards with their incredible eyes.
I only found a single Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko (Nephrurus levis occidentalis):
I also found a Tessallated Gecko (Heteronotia binoei) that I was not able to photograph and this Variegated Gecko (Gehyra variegata):
It rained while I was driving on my second night at Kalbarri. Most geckos disappeared by I saw a few Soft Spiny-tailed Geckos walking around with water dripping off their backs. Frogs appeared almost as soon as the rains commenced. I saw several species including these plump Western Spotted Frogs (Heleioporus albopunctatus):
I am not certain about the identity of this frog. It looks like a member of Neobatrachis but I did not hear the call which is the best feature for separating the similar species. To me, it most resembles a Kunapalari Frog (Neobatrachis kunapalari) but I cannot be certain as to the identity.
I also saw many of these tiny toadlets. It looks the most like a Western Toadlet (Pseudophryne occidentalis) to me but I am not certain of this identification.
Regards,
David
