"After The Flood"

Hunter River, Western Australia

If the day was the time to find monitor lizards, skinks and dragons, then the night was for frogs and geckos, but of course we were primarily hoping to find snakes, particularly pythons, active after dark.

Mark and John out herping at night	A "piece to camera" with the lamp turned off to avoud dazzling the camera
Searching rock pools	and cliff-faces
Night time is the time for frogs... Watjulum frog Litoria watjulumensis	...and geckos Crocodile-faced dtella Gehyra xenopus

Frogs were abundant on the warmer evenings, in the rock pools, on the cliffs and in small pools on the rocks. We found Ornate burrowing frog (Platyplectrum ornatum) and the Marbled frog (Limnodynastes convexisculus), the latter not photographed but already recorded on the Mitchell Plateau. We also found the Cave-dwelling frog (Litoria cavernicola), Copland's rock frog (Litoria coplandi), the Rocket frog (Litoria nasuta) with its go-faster stripes and pointed head, the Rockhole frog (Litoria meirana) inhabiting the tiny water-filled indentations on the rocks, the Watjulum frog (Litoria watjulumensis) and Roth's treefrog (Litoria rothii), not photographed by also seen and photographed on the Mitchell Plateau.

Ornate burrowing frog Platyplectrum ornatum
Cave-dwelling frog Litoria cavernicolus
Copland's rock frog Litoria coplandi
Rocket frog Litoria nasuta
Rockhole frog Litoria meirana in a rockhole
Watjulum frog Litoria watjulumensis

Geckos were also common on the cliff-faces or litoral vegetation, ie. Crocodile-faced dtella (Gehyra xenopus), Rhombic velvet gecko (Oedura rhombifer), Fringe-toed velvet gecko (Oedura filicipoda), Gracile velvet gecko (Oedura gracilis), and the Slim velvet gecko (Oedura obscura), the latter not photographed. A Western giant cave gecko (Pseudothecadactylys cavaticus) was captured in a large rock fissure.

Crocodile-faced dtella Gehyra xenopus
Rhombic velvet gecko Oedura rhombifer
Fringe-toed velvet gecko Oedura filicipoda
Gracile velvet gecko Oedura gracilis
Western giant cave gecko Pseudothecadactylus cavaticus

And we got snakes at night. Sleeping diurnal Common treesnakes (Dendrelaphis punctulatus) were found in the fragmented forest at the head of the gorge, their white underbellied highly visible in the branches at night. We also captured two Night tiger treesnakes (Boiga iregularis ornata)*, a possible subspecies and distinctive banded pattern-morph of the widespread Austalopapuan Brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis) which has also been treated as a separate species (Boiga fusca).

*For a comparitive study of the Australopapuan-Solomons treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) see:
Whittier, J., C. Macrokanis & R.T. Mason 2000 Morphology of the brown tree snake Boiga irregularis, with a comparison of native and extralimital populations. Australian Journal of Zoology 48:357-367.

Common treesnakes Dendrelaphis punctulatus

Night tiger treesnake Boiga irregularis ornata
Mark with Night tiger treesnake Boiga irregularis ornata

By despite all the frogs, geckos, skinks, dragons, monitors and colubrid snakes, after eight days in the Hunter River gorge we had not found a single python, least of all the python we were seeking, the Rough-scaled python (Morelia carinata).

With just two days and a wake-up to go before we were evacuated from the gorge, director David asked me to record a "piece to camera" (PTC) explaining how we had been unsuccessful in our quest to find the 8th known specimen of this rare and poorly known python.