North Queensland Winter 2022 (Part 1)
Townsville to Cooktown (20th to the 23rd of June)
My final semester of undergrad at ANU seemed to take forever and the usual cold of a Canberra winter and resulting lack of reptiles didn’t help the matter. However, it did eventually come to an end, leaving me with a little over six months to enjoy as much herping as possible (but also limited by ridiculous diesel prices) before my honours begins early next year. These next entries will cover the first bit of herping completed. Namely Nick, Justin and I’s second winter in a row on the Cape, Tablelands and Einasleigh Uplands of north Queensland trying to tidy up what we missed last time.
After much mucking about making my way north from Canberra, along with a pitstop at Narrabri during which I managed to find my first local Excitable Delma (Delma tincta), I finally made it to Brisbane to pick up Nick off the plane. We did make one small stop in Brisbane before leaving, tracking down Nick’s first Elf Skink (Eroticoscincus graciloides) with the help of Alex. From there we battled the hellish roads of north Brisbane up to the Cooloola Coast for our first night. Naturally, we didn’t find our target, despite it being my fourth and Nick’s third attempt at the Cooloola Snake-skink (Ophioscincus cooloolensis). Nothing else has evaded me to such a degree and it’s a rather embarrassing white whale at this point, I think I’ll be putting it on the backburner and trying to forget about it for a while.
We spent the next two days seeing very few reptiles, other than some secretive leaftails, as we made our way north to Townsville. Our major victory came in the form of future access to the rarely seen Mt Cooper Slider (Lerista vittata) which we’d come back to at the end of the trip.
Day 1
After completing the team with the addition of Justin, we were packed, kitted out and ready to find some lizards and we headed north for the tablelands from Townsville. Driving up the coast we got a lovely view of the rainforest hills covered by a blanket of ominous clouds, and naturally once we drove up into it the rain began. And it didn’t stop. Pushing on into the upper Tully we were out in the rain and hoping to find our first skink target under logs. It didn’t take long to turn up a multitude of Prickly Forest Skinks (Gnypetoscincus queenslandae) as well as a bunch of Robust Whistling Frogs (Austrochaperina robusta), a first for Nick and I. Unfortunately, our target Sapro remained elusive. Swapping one patch of soggy rainforest for another, with a quick break for food in Ravenshoe, we were once again flipping for much the same results. However, Justin finally came up with the goods, reflipping a log I had looked at half an hour earlier and finding a Wedge-snouted Shadeskink (Saproscincus czechurai). To ease my conscience, I hope it merely walked under the log after I’d looked there.
With our only target for the day safely observed, we continued northwards, hoping to find a campsite to escape the rain. Of course Mt Lewis was not a likely spot to escape it, but as it was our planned location for the next day and nowhere in between was dry, that was where we ended up. Despite the unsavory weather I was rather excited to be visiting the well-known herping spot and eyes were peeled as we drove the ridiculously long dirt road to the top. A quick flip on the way up found our first reptiles, a tiny neonate Marsh Snake (Hemiaspis signata) and a Brown-tailed Bar-lipped Skink (an awful common name)(Glaphyromorphus fuscicaudis) and some more spotlighting also found our first Northern Leaf-tails (Saltuarius cornutus) for the trip, and some Fry’s Frogs (Austrochaperina fryi), another first for Nick and I. Eventually we did make it to the top after navigating a fallen tree in the mist and we had one final spotlight before bed. Microhylids were out in force with the rain, with most bits of cover having a species or two to which we’ve attached some cautious id’s. Despite missing them at every creek crossing, I also spotted a juvenile Mt Carbine Barred Frog (Mixophyes carbinensis), wrapping up the genus for both Nick and I. Tired and soaked but not altogether unhappy, we all battered down for the night in the hut.
Day 2
The weather had not improved the next morning, and we spent the first hour sitting in swags and sleeping bags watching the mist roll through. Our chances for an active Grey-bellied Sunskink (Lampropholis robertsi) were nil, so eventually I did drag myself out for a round of flipping. Ironically, the only skinks I did find were three Wedge-snouted Shadeskinks (S. czechurai), which we’d spent the whole previous afternoon looking for. Accepting the loss, we navigated back down the road for a rather good pub lunch at Mt Molloy. Despite the rain on the hills the flatter savannah country was dry and considering the conditions, we thought it only right to have a look for Taipans (Oxyuranus scutellatus). Heading to some nearby cane bordering woodlands we began to scope the edge of the bush. It had only been five minutes when Nick looked down a couple metres to his left to casually say “Taipan”, with a roughly 1.5 individual out basking in the open. Foolishly we’d left our cameras in the car and, unsurprisingly, once we returned with them the snake was nowhere to be seen. Continuing up into the bush, the first piece of tin had a second Taipan basking on top which disappeared under it at our approach. None of us were in the mood to dance with one for photos, but it was nice to get a close look at the second, which sat somewhat calmly under the tin when it was lifted. After it had had enough and shot off at high speed, we turned tail and headed for Grant Husband’s.
We spent much of the rest of the afternoon trading stories with Grant at his house over some coffee, although we naturally found time to rustle up a Red-tailed Litter-skink (Lygisaurus malleolus) from one of his gardens. A quick walk failed to yield his backyard Boyd’s, but you can’t have everything. As darkness descended we convinced Grant to join us for a Chameleon Gecko (Carphodactylus laevis) hunt back up Lewis and off we headed into the rain. Following his directions we stopped numerous times on the way up to spotlight, finding little for our efforts other than some Northern Leafies and a sleeping baby Boyd’s Forest Dragon (Lophosaurus boydii). Eventually it did pay off, with Justin finding a large individual with no tail, and then Nick finding one at a subsequent stop with a regen. Cold, wet and not unpleased with being able to find them in very subpar conditions, we called it a night and headed back to Grant’s to camp.
Day 3
A sleep dry and undercover was wonderful and after saying goodbye to Grant and Annette we were off the next morning, jumping across the Daintree Ferry to Cape Tribulation. A quick walk around a tourist car park yielded my first Northern Red-throated Rainbow Skinks (Carlia crypta) before we shouldered our packs and took off up a rather steep nearby ridge. I spent the first part of the walk looking amongst the pandanus for Peppermint Stick Insects and had happily found a couple before being startled by Justin’s request for toilet paper. Being the fools we were, none of us had any and not wanting to climb back down, Justin waddled off looking for some poor leaves. Once business was sorted we resumed the climb and eventually made it high enough to start looking for our target. Small stones quickly yielded a couple species we were all keen to see, a Lewis’ Shadeskink (Saproscincus lewisi) and a Rain Frog (Austrochaperina pluvialis) but not the target, so we continued higher. The weather rapidly deteriorated as we climbed the near vertical ridge with the aid of a rope. Heavy mist and whipping rain came at us horizontally through the stunted rainforest, but fortunately, I soon uncovered the small wriggler that was the recently rechristened Thornton Peak Skink (Calorodius thorntonensis). Despite being one of our biggest targets for the trip, we didn’t get to spend long with it due to the weather and after a quick flurry of photos we replaced him and got off the ridge as quickly as possible.
Just to rub it in, it was still sunny, dry and warm back at the car, but even that changed as we headed north up the Bloomfield track, with the rain settling in for most of the day. One of the few dry patches near Rossville had us slightly more upbeat and we decided to wait for night for a chance (a very small chance) at a Cape York Scalyfoot (Pygopus robertsi). While waiting for the light to fade, poking around yielded some patternless Black-tailed Bar-lipped Skinks (Glaphyromorphus nigricaudus) and a single, minute Faint-striped Blind-snake (Anilios broomi) but that would be the limit of our success with no Scalyfoot around. A quick stop at Black Mountain on the way to Cooktown also failed to yield the boulder frog as unfortunately the rain had somehow missed there. We finished off the night with a raking effort for a McIvor River Slider (Lerista ingrami). Naturally, it began raining again and fed up with it, we left and made camp near town where I unrolled my swag to find the bottom foot soaked by a lake of water. Not happy, Jan!
