Camballin Fauna Survey Part 1

So busy lately with fauna surveys. I just got back from two weeks at Cambillin in the Kimberleys and today I’m off to the east Pilbara for the week, then that area again next week, then possibly the west Pilbara in the following weeks. A week’s holiday in Borneo is planned for early June. It’s the nature of being a consultant Zoologist in WA, it’s often a flood or a drought in regards to work!

Here are some picture of the Camballin post-wet season survey, which again was hard work, but great fun.

Most of our 120 pit traps had survived the wet season, especially the trap sites on the red sand dunes. It was a lot harder to open the ones on the plains, as the mud had set over them like concrete.

Even after 3 days of hard work opening traps, Kirstin can still smile!

One of the great geckos we caught, Northern Spiny-tailed Gecko.

Great camo and a wonderful eye.

A tricky dragon to id, Diporiphora lalliae. It comes in many colour variations and there are lots of different dragon species in the area. Best way to id it, was to look for the folds on the throat area.

One of the other dragons of the site, Diporiphora pindan. This species has no throat fold. Dragons were hard work as you always had to count and look for certain folds. Check this site if you want to see the different dragons. http://www.canetoads.com.au/dragons.htm

Skinks were hard work too, as there are at least two in the area that look very similar. This one is Ctenotus inornatus.

A nice little face, but sometimes they loved to bite you.

A young Ctenotus saxatilis that will look very similar to the inornatus when he grows up.

A very big Glaphyromorphus (Eremiascincus) isolepis.

A very big fat tail that something has tried to bite off.

A beautiful legless lizard, Delma borea.

An easy dragon to id, a young Bearded Dragon.

Another difficult reptile to id, a gecko Gehyra punctata. Another gecko which looked very similar, Gehyra pilbara is also found at the survey area. Both species were caught and not in the habitats they are suppose to live in, making id harder. This guy caught on sand dunes is suppose the live in rocky gorges!

The survey site was a zone where many species meet. This Lerista bipes has many Lerista species that look like it, so you had to get the hand lens and count the upper lip scales, bipes has five. Always fun with a animal that can disappear in a teaspoon of sand and wriggles like crazy when caught! Even more fun with the babies as they are only an inch long.

After the wet, many little hatchlings were around. They are sometime harder to id than adults. This is a very young Diporiphora pindan.

Cute cheeky little fellow is suppose to follow the fence and fall into the bucket, not just climb over it!