So, this trip to Australia, as well as being focused on the birds I might see (that was my main job!), I was also very keen to try and see lots of other wildlife, inspired by all of the cool things I'd seen last time. I have to thank my friends Dave and Sue in Adelaide, and Rob and Di in Brisbane for helping to inspire me (and getting me to the places to actually be able to look for them, and in most cases for telling me what I was looking at!).
Here are a few of the highlights from my time in South Australia - a couple of nights driving round the Strzelecki Track and while out birding during the day. Pictures below too... Info on other wildlife seen during the Birding Ecotours Australia tour will be in the trip report coming very soon, and details of what I had in Queensland after the tour will be coming to the blog soon too...
Mammals
- AMPURTA (Crest-tailed Mulgara) - Rare and Endangered (also a known-range expansion!) carnivorous marsupial - to top it off, two seen! This is the first confirmed record in the Strzelecki Desert and represents a range extension! Only known previously from recent physical evidence in the form of scats and tracks...
- Kowari - A Vulnerable carnivorous marsupial, an adult with baby on its back.
- Red Kangaroo - Just the largest living marsupial!
- Euro - A Vulnerable kangaroo.
- Fat-tailed Dunart - a small carnivorous marsupial.
- Fawn Hopping Mouse - does as its name suggests, found on the gibber plains.
- Dusky Hopping Mouse - as above but found in dune habitat and is considered Vulnerable.
- Sandy Inland Mouse - a small rodent found in the desert.
- Dingo - Primitive dog introduced into Australia many thousands of years ago, some say 4,000, some say 10,000...
- Rabbit - Unfortunately this introduced herbivore is pretty much everywhere...
- 'House' Cat - Unfortunately this is a real problem in Australia, these feral cats are huge and massive killing machines, they would kill at least 7 of the 10 species above it on this list. We even saw one loafing about in a kite nest up a tree...
Reptiles
- Shingleback.
- Central Bearded Dragon.
- Tessellated Gecko.
- Bynoe's Gecko.
- Eyrean Earless Dragon.
- Variegated Dtella.
- Beaded Gecko.
- Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko.
- King Brown 'Mulga' Snake (Dangerously Venomous).
- Myall 'Curl' Snake (Dangerously Venomous).
- Woma (Python) (Rare and Endangered).
Ampurta (Crest-tailed Mulgara) © Andy Walker 2015
Worth mentioning again... This is the first confirmed record in the Strzelecki Desert and represents a range extension! Only known previously from recent physical evidence in the form of scats and tracks...
Ampurta (Crest-tailed Mulgara) © Andy Walker 2015
Worth mentioning again... This is the first confirmed record in the Strzelecki Desert and represents a range extension! Only known previously from recent physical evidence in the form of scats and tracks...
Dingo © Andy Walker 2015
Dusky Hopping Mouse (Adult) © Sue Harper 2015
Dusky Hopping Mouse (Baby) © Sue Harper 2015
Feral Cat © Sue Harper 2015
Sandy Inland Mouse © Sue Harper 2015
Beaded Gecko © Andy Walker 2015
Bynoe's Gecko © Andy Walker 2015
Eyrean Earless Dragon © Andy Walker 2015
King Brown 'Mulga' Snake © Andy Walker 2015
Myall 'Curl' Snake © Andy Walker 2015
Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko © Andy Walker 2015
Tessellated Gecko © Andy Walker 2015
Woma (Python) © Andy Walker 2015
Woma (Pyton) © Andy Walker 2015
Nice post. The light bar between the eyes of the earless dragon indicates it's probably a Lined Earless Dragon (T. lineata). Though careful examination of the pores is a more accurate ID feature.
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