I recently spent two weeks up at Alpha, between Emerald and Longreach. It was very hot and dry, and there wasn’t as much critter action as I’d hoped. But I still managed to find and photograph a few new things.
Collared sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus)
This collared sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus) was hanging around a dam. He seemed completely unperturbed by us, as long as we remained in the car. He flew off as soon as I stuck my head out of the window to get a better angle.
Collared sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus)
Collared sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus)
Collared sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus)
Eastern bearded dragon (Pogona barbata)
Eastern bearded dragon (Pogona barbata)
Lerista fragilis
Zigzag velvet gecko (Oedura rhombifer)
Gould’s wattled bat (Chalinolobus gouldii)
Gould’s wattled bat (Chalinolobus gouldii)
Yellow-bellied sheath-tailed bat (Saccolaimus flaviventris)
Striped-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura)
One night I was spot lighting around one of our trap lines. We had 20 Elliott traps out, along with a standard drift line with pit-fall buckets. As I was walking around I heard the clink of a nearby Elliott trap closing. I wandered over and found that a striped-faced dunnart had entered and set off the trap. We took her out and she sat still for a few seconds, allowing me to fire off a few photos. She then scurried away into the darkness. I sat on the ground for a couple of minutes, reviewing my pics. When I looked up I could see that the dunnart had returned. She was casually scurrying around in front of me. As Mark (the other guy on the trip) walked over, the dunnart was spooked and retreated into the entrance of the trap without actually setting it off.
She stood in the trap for a minute, just watching me take some pics of her. We then up-ended the trap to contain her, and Mark went back to the car to get his camera. After he’d photographed her for a while, we closed that Elliott trap to make sure she wouldn’t get trapped in there overnight. We’d already identified her, so there was no point in our leaving the trap open to catch her again.
