Rainforest and Bronzebacks (Part 2)
Casino to Narrabri (27th – 30th)
Day 5
Although we weren’t privy to the information at the time, our next two days were to pass at a much slower rate. Despite recent rain over much of NSW, the Casino to Grafton area had been largely missed and was therefore rather dry. Not the most promising conditions for frogs or reptiles. Nevertheless, we were up early the next morning and heading west. Nick had convinced me to overshoot our main target and begin the day with an Egernia hunt. Pulling up in some drier forest we began forging up the hill in the heat, only to see an absolutely tiny Lampropholis disappear into the leaf litter. We both agreed it had to be a young Friendly Sunskink (L. amicula) but we didn’t manage to re-find it to confirm, a shame as this species continues to elude me. Shaking off our distress at missing it we continued scrambling around until an Eastern Crevice Skink (E. mcpheei) decided to grace us with its presence. Glad we’d not been skunked, we turned back east in search of our frog.
Egernia mcpheei
Unfortunately, our target was not to be found that day as we carefully traversed some creek lines. There was no chorusing to be heard from where I’d previously seen them, so we continued upstream to investigate. The stream soon turned into a dry gully and although it did not produce frogs, a Common Tree Snake (D. punctulatus) and Rose’s Shade-skink (S. rosei) were found out and about. Foregoing the frog, we turned to our other main target for the day, a single recording of the Clouded Gecko (A. jacovae) nearby. This species is predominantly recorded in south-east QLD, with its distribution in NSW being scarce and largely unknown. After exploring the area where this one had been seen we decided it was worth waiting for a spotlight to check and we settled in to wait for dark.
Dendrelaphis punctulatus
After waiting for the usual dusk period (which always seems to take forever) to pass, we were out with our torches. The gecko, unfortunately, was not. The only reptile to be seen was a juvenile Carpet Python (M. spilota) in ambush position, a first for me to see as behaviour but a fairly common sight for the area. Burying our frustrations, we hit the road in search of snakes. An Eastern Small-eyed Snake (C. nigrescens) was quick to appear, followed by an angry Pink-tongued Skink (C. gerrardii) but after that our luck ran out. With nothing more seemingly active and tiredness setting in after being on the road for several days now, we once again graced the town of Casino with our presence.
Day 6
Desperate to improve upon the previous days efforts, we swapped rainforest for heath and headed to the coast. The Heath Shadeskink (S. oriarus) is a cryptic inhabitant of heath on the north coast of NSW and south coast of Queensland where it goes largely unnoticed by herpers. Both Nick and I had been wanting to look for them for a long time, but they were to avoid us despite a whole day of searching. We scrounged around the heath until it was too warm to bear before heading to the local pub, where we would pass most of the day. Some slight detours were added in the form of almost getting bogged in sand dunes and seeing a Green Turtle (C. mydas) but it was largely a quiet day spent avoiding the heat.
By nightfall we had one more chance to find our skink by spotlighting as, like most Saproscincus, they were known to sleep in small shrubs and grasses at night to escape terrestrial predators. The local ones must have missed the memo that night though, as we returned without a sighting, with some strong winds likely not helping our cause. Ditching our beach side retreat we headed for the hills, although we stopped several times to lap a road, finding a Carpet Python (M. spilota), two Common Scaly-foots (P. lepidopodus), a Burton’s Legless Lizard (L. burtonis) and an unfortunately dor Bandy Bandy (V. annulata). After several more hours driving without a reptile, two tired and dirty herps arrived at our target stream. The local Marsupial Frogs (A. darlingtoni) had unfortunately stopped calling since my last visit but several Southern Barred Frogs (M. balbus) and Barrington Tree Frogs (L. barringtonensis) where active to save the night, both new species for Nick.
Day 7
A quick scurry around some creek lines that morning yielded another new frog for Nick, although it came at the price of a severe mosquito and prickly vine experience. Leaving our final gullies of true rainforest for the trip behind, two tired herpers headed for the tablelands.
The New England Tablelands is a high altitude and relatively cold area that supports the most northerly populations of several species restricted to cooler climates. Nick had set our sights on one such population of the Tussock Skink (P.pagenstecheri), although we hadn’t factored midday temperatures into our predictions. By the time we arrived the skinks had all seemingly headed for cover in the heat, although success was found with other species. Several Brown-backed Yellow-lined Ctenotus (C. eurydice) were found sheltering under rocks from the sweltering temperatures, followed by a small and irate Highlands Copperhead (A. ramsayi). Not too long after and we were sent packing by the sun, heading further south in search of something to occupy the remainder of the afternoon. Deciding to continue our Egernia theme, we went in search of even more Cunningham’s Skinks (E. cunninghami), which turned out to be as unsurprisingly uncooperative as ones further north, disappearing into their trees as we approached.
Austrelaps ramsayi
The final bit of daylight saw us pull over at a very unremarkable stream nearby, one of the only places northern Booroolong Frogs (L. booroolongensis) had been recorded in recent times. Donning our led lensers and apprehensive of approaching clouds we began our search, only to be rewarded almost instantly. Eight adults and one juvenile were quickly found amongst the more common Stoney Creek Frogs (L. wilcoxii). The male Stoney Creek Frogs (L. wilcoxii) almost stole the show, with huge numbers of fluorescent yellow males crowding around the water but I was rather pleased with our Booroolong finds. Although I’m unable to explain why, these northern ones appeared much more impressive to the eye than the southern ones I’ve seen, and I was rather happy sitting amongst the rocks with the camera. We weren’t allowed much time to spend with them though, heavy rain started and the ute was once again on the road. Davie’s Tree Frogs (L. daviesae) were to be the final nocturnal frog target on the eastern half of our trip and around an hour later we pulled into a stream that had been nuked by fires. Fortunately, an unburnt patch still remained on the upstream side of the road and several rather bland individuals were sourced for Nick. With more showers converging we didn’t waste time and were soon passed out nearby.
Litoria booroolongensis
Day 8
The morning dawned dim and misty for our final day, not my idea of perfect weather but our diurnal frog target would hopefully be happy. We were of course chasing the 5th species of Philoria in NSW, the Sphagnum Frog (P. sphagnicola). After navigating down into some nearby gullies with ears strained, the faint call of one male was honed in on and eventually discovered. 4/5 NSW species in one trip wasn’t a bad hit rate and I was rather pleased as we sat around with our cameras, although I was less enthused about climbing back up the hill to the car.
Philoria sphagnicola
Leaving our frog behind, we headed into the nearby forest on the trail of one of the states most elusive skinks. The Long Sunskink (L. elongata) has frustrated herpers (or at least the subbranch that like little brown skinks) for several years as it hasn’t been sighted since 2013. A worrying trend in a changing climate. I myself had looked for it several times previously without luck, but Nick wasn’t ready to leave without giving it a shot. Spending the rest of the day investigating, we found a wide range of species, Yellow-bellied Water Skinks (E. heatwolei), Alpine Water Skinks (E. kosciuskoi), Delicate Skinks (L. delicata), Three-toed Skinks (S. equalis), Cunningham’s Skinks (E. cunninghami), White’s Skinks (L. whitii), Red-throated Skinks (A. platynotum) and Weasel Skinks (S. mustelinus), but unsurprisingly, none were the target. Bidding goodbye to the Great Dividing Range, Narrabri was plugged in as the destination and we headed home for a single nights rest before driving west.
Egernia cunninghami
Eulamprus kosciuskoi
