The Kimberleys

The spring fauna surveys are starting to pick up and it seems a couple will be in one of my favourite regions, the Kimberley. Next week I shall be doing a small fauna survey on Koolan Island, about 130 km north of Derby, which is the gateway to the Kimberleys.

I thought I would put up some photos of our last fauna survey in the south Kimberley, just north of Halls Creek.

On some days the heat and humidity keep building throughout the day to cause huge thunderstorms in the late afternoon.

A camouflaged Ta-ta Lizard (Amphibolurus gilberti), so called because of a territorial hand waving behaviour. You can often see these guys running around the mining accommodation near well-watered gardens.

A view of the typical Kimberley woodland which was part of a survey area, located to the north of Halls Creek.

Woodland areas in northern Australia are good places to find Frilled Lizards (Chlamydosaurus kingii). Many people have seen what adult Frilled Lizards look like, but these pictures show a juvenile which has a different colour and very small frill on the back of the head.

The eye and patterns on the head are wonderful on this young guy, hopefully he will stay out of the way of hungry predators, such as eagles, and grow up to be a fine adult.

Not a snake, but a legless lizard, a Delma borea found in areas in northern Australia with a good ground cover of spinifex.