Autumn 2021 (Qld/Part 1)
Canberra to Canberra via Qld (2nd-10th)
With uni break imminent there was only one thing on my mind, where should I go herping? With Nick locked in to come there was only one logical choice, a revisit to south-east QLD on the trail of some species that had evaded us previously, along with some that we’d never searched for. Our plans hit some early problems with a seemingly trip ending covid outbreak in Brisbane and some personal commitments. Luckily, a bit of date and location maneuvering still had us looking good to go and with a complementary drive by visit to Justin at the start of the trip, things were looking good. Cue the driving.
I’ve chosen to keep this as one slightly longer post to include the entirety of the Qld part of the trip as we found relatively little, due mostly to the huge dumps of rain the region received just before we got there. Apologies in advance for fans of fossorial skinks, most chose not to show themselves.
Day 1
Barely qualifying as the official beginning, I spent most of the day lying around in Canberra waiting for Nick to arrive. Our late departure from Canberra didn’t see us arrive in the Blue Mountains until around 10:30 PM that night, by which time most things had gone to bed. One lone Eastern Stone Gecko (Diplodactylus vittatus) and some calling Eastern Banjo Frogs (Limnodynastes dumerilii) were all we had to show from a brief spotlight before we turned in for the night.
Day 2
Up bright and early the next day, with a complementary coffee from Cam before he flew out the door, we visited a certain infamous dump of a spot and turned up empty. Not too surprising considering the cold conditions. Spirits were still high after a rather good pie for breakfast, we were here predominantly for a sulky skink after all. With temperatures rising, we headed down to a place I’d previously seen Blue Mountains Water Skinks (Eulamprus leuraensis) and started our investigations. It took a while but eventually several adults did show their faces for photos, although none were in immaculate condition. With our primary target safely observed, we hit the road and battled the Easter traffic on our way north to Justin.
It was late afternoon by the time we arrived at the glorious village of Boggabri, luckily Justin’s appearance did a lot to make up for the lackluster surroundings. Bundling him into the car we continued north to Narrabri for a well earned beer.
With the sun setting much earlier than in summer, we didn’t have too long to wait for dark and we headed out onto the black soil in search of some new species for Justin. It didn’t take long to find his first, with one of the many local Eastern Water-holding Frogs (Cyclorana platycephala) found sitting on the road. Navigating further into the swamps and jumping out with head torches, Nick almost immediately found our first snake, a Grey Snake (Hemiaspis damelii), one of the more sought after locals. Choosing not to battle the monster mosquitoes and the species typically frustrating nature for photos, I left it in Justin’s tender care and retreated to the car. Back on the road we finished the night fairly quietly, with one Dwyer’s Snake (Suta dwyeri), a Salmon-striped Frog (Limnodynastes salmini), both new species for Justin, as well as an unfortunately dor 2m Carpet Python (Morelia spilota).
Day 3
Waking up the next morning we had a jam packed plan to find as many of the local herp species as possible before having to take Justin back to Boggabri. Once again we headed straight out onto the floodplain to some of the flip spots Tyler and I had created the previous year. The first part of the morning was fairly quiet, it was still likely too early in the season for the tin to turn up too many good finds. We did, however, come across a fresh hit monster Spotted Black (Pseudechis guttatus) and I’m starting to believe that the curse of only finding them dor is real. The final tin area did yield another Grey Snake (Hemiaspis damelii), but none of us were willing to brave the mosquitoes for photos. Giving up on flipping, we headed to a nearby area that I’d received a tip off had some odd looking Robust Ctenotus (Ctenotus robustus). After poking around some logs for a while, a juvenile patternless individual was sourced for photos, along with a slightly more regular looking patterned one.
After finishing our skinky photos we made the run for Mt Kaputar, with a necessary pitstop in town for food. Justin hadn’t been up the iconic mountain before and conditions were looking good, the perfect way to round out the day. Our first stop was down towards the base of the national park and soon enough we had two skink species not often seen in that part of the state, several South-eastern Sliders (Lerista bougainvilii), and a Two-clawed Worm-skink (Anomalopus leuckartii). Leaving the drier, scrubby slopes behind we then headed for the sub-alpine habitat towards the summit, with a few more new species for Justin (Eastern Earless Skinks (Hemiergis talbingoensis), Tussock Skinks (Pseudemoia pagenstecheri) and Red-throated Skinks (Acritoscincus platynotum)) found amongst the snow grass. After cleaning up the forest species, we ducked out onto one of the several outcrops that form the only known habitat for the Mt Kaputar Rock Skink (Egernia roomi). This species was only officially described in 2019 and has the smallest range of any vertebrate in the state, needless to say it is one of my favourite locals. It didn’t take long before several were spied for Justin, and we sat around for a while observing an adult and several juveniles utilising the same crack. With most of our day time targets found along with quite a few photos, we shot back down the mountain in time for an early feed. We’d be back later that night for the nocturnal denizens.
Fed and watered, the three of us returned predominantly in search of one species, the Granite Belt Thick-tailed Gecko (Uvidicolus sphyrurus). Unfortunately, with all the rain the area had received and the resulting explosion in plant growth along with rodent plagues, spotlighting was hard work and the gecko was nowhere to be seen. Several of the more common Thick-tailed Gecko (Underwoodisaurus milii) were found crossing the road, along with some Burton’s Legless Lizards (Lialis burtonis) and Red-naped Snakes (Furina diadema) as consolation prizes. Abandoning our gecko search, we once again returned to the summit area and after some effort I was able to track down a Bibron’s Toadlet (Pseudophryne bibronii). It was a rather attractive male but the search had been frustrating, they were calling much more feebly than when I’d heard them last year. Retreating down to lower elevations, it was once again a sad farewell as we left Justin back in Boggabri, work commitments preventing him from joining us for the trip.
Day 4
Nick and I hit the road early the next morning with a lot of kilometres to cover, further compounded by the closing of some roads due to flooding. A compulsory visit to Goondiwindi maccas followed by even more driving saw us arrive at our first stop near Glenmorgan in the early afternoon. A 5 foot Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis) greeted us on arrival and it wasn’t too long later before we had eyes on a skink that had previously given us the slip. The Yakka Skink (E. rugosa) is a robust, communal species that inhabits burrows in the Brigalow Belt. They’re also very flighty as we came to realise. Our sighting consisted of one large adult and a juvenile that disappeared into a singular burrow almost as soon as we were within eyeshot. Not the most rewarding find but we were stoked nonetheless.
It was much later in the afternoon by the time we pulled up on the road west of Roma. We were on the trail of what I personally think is one of the worst genera of lizards, Tympanocryptis. A couple of laps down our first road yielded no Roma Earless Dragons (Tympanocryptis wilsoni), although we did come across a Two-clawed Worm-skink (Anomalopus leuckartii) and the shed of a Crack-dwelling Whipsnake (Demansia rimacola). A short but heart stopping delay to search for the car keys I dropped in the grass came to a happy conclusion and we moved onto the next road. The weather had really decided to mess with our chances by the time we arrived, heavily overcast conditions did not bode well. Another hour later and dragonless we packed up shop and continued west, rushing to make it to our last area on dark for road cruising.
The Morven area is the only known location that one can find the Warrego Burrowing Snake (A. warro), a truly elusive species that evades all but a few. True to form it also evaded us but there were a few snakes and some geckos getting around that night. Several hours of road cruising saw the appearance of a Spotted Python (Antaresia maculosa), a Mulga (Pseudechis australis) and two Pale-headed Snakes (Hoplocephalus bitorquatus) with the help of Isaac and Jim, who we met on the road. The retreating head of an Eastern Beaked Gecko (Rhynchoedura ormsbyi) down a burrow was also spotted, a first for me. We did manage to stop briefly for some nocturnal raking, with Nick quickly uncovering our first Eastern Mulch Slider (Lerista fragilis). Tired and dusty we crashed by the side of the road for some well earned sleep.
Day 5
We hadn’t given up on the Burrowing Snake just yet and we set out the next morning to explore as much leaf litter as humanly possible. Many of the larger Eucalypts had nice layers of hummus and many more L. fragilis as well as a couple of Eastern Robust Sliders (Lerista punctatovittata) were found going about their business. With the morning hours dragging on we decided to leave, but not before finding another Mulga on the road with Isaac and Jim on the way out.
Heading back east, a Roma Earless Dragon was given another chance to appear but to little avail, other than an Eastern Bluetongue (Tiliqua scincoides) seen disappearing into the Mitchell Grass. Choosing to target another terrible Grassland Earless Dragon we shot a further 3.5 hours east to just west of Tooowoomba on the tail of the Condamine Earless Dragon (Tympanocryptis condaminensis). Nick and I had visited the area a little over a year before in 40 degree heat and drought, but the area was now a cool 20 degrees and underwater from rain just an hour prior. Not ideal. With our dragon plans unsurprisingly in shambles, we settled for waiting for dark at Cecil Plains.
Cruising west into Dunmore SF we quickly encountered our next issue, all the rain had cut off the road, leaving us with little cruising territory. Along a similar vein, temperatures were plummeting and we quickly gave up on our road cruise. Plugging in a destination over an hour to the north-east, we turned tail and fled to wetter forests. It was cool and misty by the time we arrived in the Bunya Mountains, but we weren’t about to fall asleep with nothing to show for our day. A quick spotlight down to a creek yielded a new Mixophyes for Nick, a Great Barred Frog (Mixophyes fasciolatus) and slightly relieved, we set up camp, hoping for a more successful tomorrow.
Day 6
We spent most of the next morning walking through the surrounding forests looking for a skink with a dubious species status, the Bunya Sunskink (Lampropholis colossus). Cool and overcast conditions hampered our search, but it was impressive to see Bunya Pine forests in the flesh, they’re quite unlike most other wet forest types one can find. Eventually a stray ray or two did break through the clouds and we suddenly found numerous juveniles scampering among a log pile, along with a juvenile Three-clawed Worm-skink (Anomalopus verreauxii). Relieved, cameras were set up and photos were taken.
iPhone shot from a creekline in the Bunya Mountains
Moving eastwards, we made a quick stop at some low ranges, finding a Common Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulatus) and some other things, before arriving at our afternoon destination on the coast. The Great Sandy National Park is a beautiful place and many people know it, with plenty of tourists always around (as herpers we clearly don’t qualify as tourists ourselves). You therefore have to deal with many other annoying humans during daylight hours, but luckily, the scenery mostly makes up for it. With the sun setting, we hiked into a lake that we’d visited a little over a year before. The frogs didn’t disappoint, with many Cooloola Sedge Frogs (Litoria cooloolensis) calling throughout the night, although they can be rather difficult to sneak up on for a calling photo. Our appetites for frogs satiated, we walked back through the rainforest in the hope of stumbling upon a coastal Three-toed Snake-toothed Skink (Coeranoscincus reticulatus) but to no avail. We did come across some other things though, including a pale Northern Banjo Frog (Limnodynastes terrareginae), a Small-eyed Snake (Cryptophis nigrescens) and several large native Snails feeding on bioluminescent fungi which was one of my favourite non-herp moments of the trip. A couple of beers back at camp and an early sleep was a nice way to end the night.
Day 7
The primary reason we’d returned to the area was the Cooloola Snake-skink (Ophioscincus cooloolensis), a small, fossorial species that’s supposedly not uncommon. For reasons unknown it again evaded us the next morning and we found almost no skinks of any sort bar a couple of Cone-eared Calyptotis (Calyptotis lepidorostrum). This was odd and frustrating as we’d managed to find quite a few skinks last time despite drought conditions. The only reason I could put it down to was heavy rain (100mm +) in most areas the day prior to our arrival. This mysterious lack of skinks would continue to haunt us for the rest of the trip.
Leaving the coastal rainforest behind us, we turned south towards Tewantin. Some Elf Skink (Eoticoscincus graciloides) records had caught my eye and required investigating but true to form they were not to be found. Fortunately, several juvenile Lampropholis were seen running around the leaf litter which turned out to be Friendly Sunskinks (Lampropholis amicula), a new species for both of us. I wasn’t prepared to put myself through the frustration of trying to photograph them (they were approx. 30mm total length) so we left them be.
Our final area to explore for the day was another spot Nick and I had visited before, a place we’d been with Justin on our last north QLD herp, Mt Glorious. An area of mountainous rainforest just west of Brisbane, it contains the third Ophioscincus species, another one we were yet to see. Consequently, we spent the remainder of the day investigating every rock and log we could possibly find, but to no avail. One benefit of all the rain was the other endemic skink, the Plain-backed Sunskink (Lampropholis couperi) was absolutely everywhere we looked. We also managed to find a large Carpet Python (Morelia spilota) trying to bask, several Rose’s Shadeskinks (Saproscincus rosei) and a terribly milky white Blackish Blind Snake (Anilios nigrescens), but no fossorial target. Cursing our luck we waited for dark in the hope that our other Brisbane target, the Clouded Gecko (Amalosia jacovae), would be out and about, but with no luck. Again I couldn’t find any other cause but rain and damp conditions as it was supposedly a common species. Retreating to a rainforest camp site, we crashed for a tired and frustrated sleep.
Day 8
Our last morning in Qld saw us moodily explore a couple more logs in a vain, last ditch effort to find our Yolk-bellied Snake-skink (Ophioscincus ophioscincus) with no luck bar an uncooperative Dwarf-crowned Snake (Cacophis krefftii). Cursing limb reduced species we fled south, with an unsuccessful detour for Arcane Ctenotus’ (Ctenotus arcanus) included before we left behind the sunshine state.
Quite a few more hours of driving later and we arrived in the Myall Lakes region on dark to road cruise. With decently warm temperatures I was cautiously optimistic, but only two Common Scaly-foots (Pygopus lepidopodus) were found out and about and with Wallingat National Park closed, we continued south to Newcastle. Despite intending to set up camp and find the nearby Mainland She-oak Skinks (Cyclodomorphus michaeli) the next morning, we couldn’t bear to sleep with our failures for the day so head torches came out and we set out to flip. The skinks occur in high densities at this area and we quickly found five individuals, with two of them perfect for photos. One quick photo session later, largely due to many local mosquitoes and we decided to chase one more local resident before sleep. The Newcastle area is well known for its populations of somewhat estuarine Green and Golden Bell Frogs (Litoria aurea) and after spotlighting boggy paths and swamps for a while we ended up with half a dozen sightings. One of the most successful nights of the trip and at a place we didn’t even originally plan to visit.
Day 9
A day of non-herping as we both returned to our home cities of Canberra and Melbourne. After spending a day laying about Canberra, I followed Nick’s trail down to Melbourne looking for frogs which will form the next blog entry.
