Hi again,
It's been a long time, but I have not been
on overly many expeditions to many places of late, due in part to very dry
conditions and plenty of other things happening. Speaking of which, my time at
the Crocodile Safari has drawn to an end. It's
been three years and eight months, and I believe it is time to move on and
pursue much bigger things. More on that later,
but let's take a look at a snapshot of what I have managed to
find...
First of all I drove down to the Fitzroy
catchment to have a look about the Funnel Creek area on the floodplain. I did
manage to find a few frogs, most of which were the Floodplain Frog - Litoria
inermis (who would have thought...?) These little guys belong to a group of
Australian "tree frogs" called Rocketfrogs, of which Central QLD has a few.
The call is a fast yapping sound, typical of Rocket Frogs. During the Dry they
squeeze into soil cracks around swamps and billabongs, emerging in the cool of
the evening to feed on small insects.
At my friend Scott's house I found this
little character under a piece of tin. It is a species of Dwarf Skink known as
Menetia timlowi, but it apparently needs to be re-classified (Wilson
et al 2003.) This is a breeding adult male, only 3cm long without the
tail (the tail is almost never measured in lizards as they often lost them.) It
feeds on insects in general by day.
Last Sunday I went with friend Rick to
Eungella for a look about. The Cattle/Finch Hatton Ck system has been
silted up since it was straightened by the council. We had a look in the gorge
after dark and I was surprised to see loads of Eungella Torrent Frogs
(Taudactylus eungellensis) on the wet rocks, some were on dry rocks
away from the cascades. This has shed some new light on this species for me as I
thought (as many did) that they were active by day and hid at night. These
looked like they were hunting. Also encouraging was the number of them. I lost
count after searching a very small area. We did not disturb or touch the frogs,
as they are very rare and restricted. Considered extinct for a few years due to
Chytridimycosis they were recently re-discovered and are making a
remarkable comeback. I think the days of seeing over 20 displaying by day on wet
rocks in the sunshine once more might not be too far away.
Now, for the crocodiles...
This is a Wallaby- looks odd just floating
in the river...
Oh wait, there is a Crocodile attached.
Boofhead is his name.
He's heading away with his kill so as not to
draw attention.
A small female has seen him and won't dare
approach
Anyway, that's all for now. I hope to be
doing several days in the kayak at the end of this week. We'll see what
happens.
Till then, all the best
-Nathan Litjens
Wilson, Steve and Swan,
Gerry; 2003. A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia, second
edition 2008. New Holland Publishers Pty Ltd,
Sydney.
