This is the second story relating to my quest to take my lifetime list of Australian reptile species to 250 before the end of 2009. For previous instalments, read the introduction and the first story. ———————————————— I was on a high after the success of my mission to find Lampropholis couperi (species 248 out of [...]

The plain-backed sunskink, Lampropholis couperi. ‘Coup’ to his friends. Found in rainforests on mountain ranges from about Rockhampton south to Mt Nebo. To most, a little brown skink. To me, species number 248 on my life-list. I didn’t muck around. I went straight to the source of the skink’s patronym: Patrick Couper from the Queensland [...]

After my last fauna survey, I tallied up my list to count all the reptile species I’ve seen over the last couple of years. I was surprised to find that I’d seen only 244 species*. That may sound like a lot, but I’ve got a long way to go given that there are about 923 [...]

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 [...]

I was out at Lake Broadwater recently. A group of 11 apostlebirds (Struthidea cinerea) came to investigate me while I was eating. I set up my camera and flashes on the ground and stood a short distance away with my remote trigger. When the birds came over to investigate my camera and food crumbs, I [...]

The winners of the 2009 ANZANG nature photography competition have been announced. I had two images short-listed this year, but unfortunately neither of them won their category. Congrats to the winners and to all the other short-listed entries! Hopefully the travelling exhibition will make it up to Queensland this year. Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) – short-listed [...]

I’ve just returned from two weeks of poking around near Dalby. Here are some pics. Reptiles/amphibians I saw but didn’t photograph are: -Diplodactylus vittatus -Pseudechis guttatus -Carlia foliorum -Limnodynastes tasmaniensis Red-bellied black snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) found on a dirt road

I don’t normally post pics of captive animals, but here are some owned by a friend of mine who lives in Longreach. Mulga snake (Pseudechis australis). St George locale.