Mornington Sanctuary
We headed straight from the Mitchell Plateau down to Mornington Sanctuary. Mornington is operated by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) as a conservation reserve.
Typical central Kimberley habitat.
Guests can pay (a lot) to stay in luxury at Mornington, while still being out in the remote wilderness of the Kimberley. Of course, we weren’t paying to stay there. We were volunteering on an AWC fauna survey, so we were in tents down the back. The landscape was amazing, the people were fantastic, but the weather was decidedly confused. The Top End of Australia is characterised by two seasonal extremes: a monsoonal wet season over the (austral) summer months, and a dry season over winter. We were there in the middle of winter, but it was raining. Not monsoonal rains, with high temperatures and impressive lightning displays. This was just cold, dreary, overcast weather with constant drizzle. Not fun at all. The survey schedule was mucked around due to the rain, but it gave us an opportunity to explore other parts of the property (and play a few rounds of extreme frisbee).
When we finally did get around to trapping, we didn’t catch as much as I’d hoped. But it was still a great experience, and I did manage to get a few new repticks.
Black soil plain. Habitat for Suta punctata, Planigale sp.
Little spotted snake (Suta punctata) – reptick!
Little spotted snake (Suta punctata).
Kimberley wedgesnout ctenotus (Ctenotus tantillus) – reptick!
Coarse sands ctenotus (Ctenotus piankai).
Kimberley shallow-soil blind snake (Ramphotyphlops kimberleyensis) – reptick!
Kimberley shallow-soil blind snake (Ramphotyphlops kimberleyensis).
Part of what made our stay at Mornington so great was the close-knit group of ecologists living and working up there. Everyone got on so well with everyone else. (Except for Joey. No one liked Joey.) When we weren’t trapping, we’d often hang out as a group. I was often persuaded to break out some impromptu performances of Lady GaGa numbers, we’d make a flummery and present it to a former Australian of the Year, or we’d hit the volleyball court. During a match late in our stay, one of the other players looked down and yelled “Snake!”. My head snapped around in his direction, my body poised to leap on what was no doubt a 6-foot mulga snake. Instead, I had to squint to see what had caused the commotion. It wasn’t a mulga snake, but it was a new reptick for me: Ramphotyphlops guentheri.
Top End blind snake (Ramphotyphlops guentheri) – reptick!
Top End blind snake (Ramphotyphlops guentheri).
Grass volleyball court. Habitat for Ramphotyphlops guentheri.
We went snorkelling in a number of creeks around the property, hoping to get a look at some of the turtles found in the area. I was able to get two turticks, and also catch a crocodile (a hatchling freshwater croc, but a croc all the same and the first one I’ve caught underwater). Australian turtle taxonomy is in a state of flux at the moment, so some of my turticks might disappear in the future. For some reason I can’t find my photos of Chelodina burrungandjii. I was having trouble with one of my compact flash cards, and I suspect these images have disappeared. Very frustrating.
North-west red-faced turtle (Emydura victoriae) – turtick!
Rainbow bee-eaters are a ubiquitous part of Australia’s avifauna. I see them all over the place, but I’ve never been able to take a decent shot of one. I finally managed to get a passable photo of the species by hanging out in a bird hide one morning.
Rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus).
Jeremy in the bird hide. I’m pretty sure there’s a design flaw here.
Another species I was desperate to see was Litoria splendida. These magnificent tree frogs are Kimberley endemics and one of the largest frogs in Australia. Some of the other ecologists at Mornington pointed us to a rockpool where these frogs had been seen before.
Magnificent tree frog (Litoria splendida).
Magnificent tree frog (Litoria splendida).
We spent a month at Mornington, and it was indeed a sad day when we had to leave. I was flying to the USA soon, and I had to get back to Brisbane to organise various things. The autofocus on my macro lens had also broken early in the trip, and I was hoping to have enough time back in Brisbane to get it repaired before heading to the States. We packed up the ute and headed south. There were a few places we wanted to visit on the return trip.
Tunnel Creek
Tunnel Creek, Western Australia.
The Tunnel Creek tunnel is known for being home to a number of bat species. We explored the tunnel during the day, wading through waist-deep, frigid water (and accidentally submerging my iPhone in the process). We saw some fruit bats roosting on the ceiling. This would have to be one of the few places in Australian where fruit bats roost in a cave. I crawled into a little side tunnel and found a roosting microbat, but didn’t manage to ID it. We came back that night to see what nocturnal species would come out. Standing in water up to your nipples, in a cave, in the dark, at night is creepy enough. Picking up the eye shine of the crocodiles you’re standing next to takes the creepiness factor up a notch. They were just freshwater crocs, but still… The only live reptile we managed to find was an olive python in an area where the roof had caved in.
Olive python (Liasis olivaceus).
Windjana Gorge
Windjana Gorge is a gorge that cuts its way through Devonian coral reef formation. It’s a very impressive sight. We spent just a short period of time here, checking out (but apparently not photographing) the sizeable freshwater crocodile population.
Devonian coral reef at Windjana Gorge.
Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater
Wolfe Creek Crater National Park is one of a few places you can find the gravel dragon (Cryptagama aurita). Well, I should say that it’s one of the few places this dragon occurs. Actually finding them is an entirely different story, and a story that I don’t have. We did, however, find some other dragons in and around the crater. Thankfully we didn’t find any serial killers.
Wolfe Creek Crater panorama.
Ring-tailed dragon (Ctenophorus caudicinctus).
Ring-tailed dragon (Ctenophorus caudicinctus).
Central millitary dragon (Ctenophorus isolepis).
Variegated fairy-wren (Malurus lamberti).
After dipping out on Cryptagama, we packed up and headed back towards Kununurra.
Repticks:
Suta punctata
Ctenotus tantillis
Chelodina burrungandjii
Emydura victoriae
Ramphotyphlops kimberleyensis
Ramphotyphlops guentheri
Hi. I love your blog. I found it through the Kimbereley Guide Newsletter. I am also an ecologist – currently doing my phd at University of Sydney- and I have been to many of the places you seem to have gone to. Makes me really want to head back up that way.