We took a 1000km detour through Longreach, Winton and Boulia to get to Cravens Peak station. A long way to go but the Windorah-Bedourie road was closed.

We saw a few nice critters along the way and some great country. I'd love to revisit some of those areas, particularly north of Jundah/South of Longreach.

These red tailed black cockatoos were sitting quietly in the shade in the heat of the day.

We drove on into the night after hitting Winton. There were quail on the road that turned out to be red chested button quail. Pity I didn't see a live one. It would ahve been a new species for me.

A few reptiles came out and showed themselves.

This Eastern Hooded Scaly Foot Pygopus schraderi is quite different from animals I've seen around Bourke. It must be the crumbly grey soil in the area.

A few dragons were on the road. This earless dragon is a very common species that I haven't seen before. The earless dragon Tympanocryptis tetraporophora is unlike other dragons as it has no visable ear opening. They are often seen on roadsides sitting up on their backlegs, white belly to the sun to reduce the amount of heat absorbed.

Another new species for me was the Downs Bearded Dragon Pogona henrylawsoni. Also called pygmy bearded dragons, they are much smaller than central or eastern bearded dragons but much stockier than the western pygmy dragons.

Stuck in Windorah

We spent the night in Windorah to stay out of the rain and ended up spending three nights there.

No matter how hot it was during the day a shower of rain at 6:00am every morning meant the roads stayed closed. Presumably they got rain furthur west as the road remained closed for the next days. There was water on the ground everywhere.




We spent out days lounging by the Coopers Creek, trying to entertain ourselves by swimming, throwing rocks at various targets and lying in the hammock.

There were a few critters kicking around the river.

This Brown Treecreeper was kicking around in the gum trees by the river.



I was delighted to see a brown quail that didn't disappear in a flurry of wing beats.




On the banks of the Coopers creek, Fairy Martins were gathering mud for their little upside-down igloo nests.





Although there had been alot of rain the Coopers wasn't up that much. There was enough rain for a swim with the pelicans though!




We did some night driving and frogging whilst stuck in Windorah.

Among a few critters found, the frogs were the most remarkable.

Cyclorana australis is not really recorded from this area, probably because they are only above ground for a short period of time and when rainfall events do occur, the towns in that area are often isolated.




We also found a Spinifex Pigeon roosting on the ground near a pond. He was unlucky enough to join my "caught by hand" list (then released). A really beautiful bird that is often hard to get a good look at.

Return the the Simpson Desert

G'day all,

I returned to the Simpson Desert for another research trip. My second for the year. Due to the very nature of the arid inland, conditions are constantly changing so no two trips are the same. Rainfall can trigger irruptions of animals, all taking advantage of the glut of food created by rain.
Rainfall also triggers burrowing frogs to emerge from an underground aestivation to feed and if theres enough rain, breed.

On the trip out to the desert there had been recent rainfall along much of the drive. Here are a few photos of some of the critters seen between Sydney and Windorah (where we were halted for a short time due to rainfall).

It was nice to see a few of the specialities of the western plains on the way out. Usually a dud area and the lowlight of the three day drive we found both Painted Honeyeaters and Superb Parrots east of Nyngan (coincidentally, Nyngan is where the drive starts to get much better).


Painted Honeyeater (above)
Superb parrot (below)

Another "hard-to-find" bird species is the Bourkes Parrot. Just stake out a waterhole just after dusk and they will come! This one was flushed when we stopped the cars to cover the swags.

A few frogs were calling around puddles on the roadside.

Waterholding frog Cyclorana platycephala can stay underground for 7 years at a stretch. It's not lack of food that kills them in the end, it's buildup of nitrogenous waste!

(above) Knife Footed Frog Cyclorana cultripes. Carries a long sharp cutting edge on it's foot to disembowl predators*.

Another burrowing species, Notoden nichollsi. Does not pack heat, but can secrete a really sticky white substance from the glands on it's back. Many a frog fancier have been accused of ungodly things when they've come back from innocently handling a few Notodens. I guess this foul habit makes the frog totally unpalatable.

This cane grass dragon Diporiphora winneckii was resting in some spinifex. The longitudinal stripes are not only dorsal, but ventral as well, presumably aiding camouflage when perched in a grass clump.

That'll do for now, more later on.

*May be totally untrue.