The next morning we were on the road again and well on
our way to the station. After a brief stop in Broken Hill
for groceries we drove the final stretch up the Silver City
Highway. Once we had arrived at Fowler’s and unpacked
the gear, we had a chat to the station manager who
commented that it had been unseasonably hot and dry
from March, with days still cracking well over 38OC. He
said to keep an eye out as there were still plenty of brown
snakes (Pseudonaja spp.) and Curl Snakes (Suta suta)
active and entering the homestead, something the fellow
teaching staff were less than enthused about. By the time
we had settled in, finished inductions and set up pitfall
traps, the day was almost over, but the night had only just
begun.
It wasn’t long before every building on the station was
covered with Tree Dtellas (Gehyra variegata). You could
circle a building and easily see at least 10 without even
trying. A quick glance around the base of the buildings
guaranteed you either a Bynoe’s Gecko (Heteronotia
binoei) or a Gibber Gecko (Lucasium byrnei), both of
which are in high abundances across the homestead.
While circling the lab building and pointing out dtellas to
one of the student groups who were conducting a
research project on them I had the pleasure of spotting a
Thick-tailed Gecko (Underwoodisaurus milii). I hate
finding this well-known species whenever I’m herping
around Sydney because I’ve seen so many of them,
however finding one out west is always nice. An
interesting note is that the adult thick-tails I’ve found in
western NSW always seem to be significantly bigger
than most of those I’ve seen in the Sydney area or in
captivity. I have photos of one specimen from my 2014
trip to the station that was as big as my hand, if not
bigger!After this, each day followed a familiar pattern, with
early starts to make sure that we had adequate time to
check the pitfall traps before the heat set in. Students
were divided into groups and rotated through various
tutorials including: pitfall trapping for reptiles (my one!),
pitfalling for small mammals, bird identification at the
nearby dam and understanding arid vegetation and
communities. Sadly, things didn’t go quite to plan, and
we had low capture rates in the pitfalls. Over the four-day
period of pitfalling all we got were a single Barred
Wedgesnout Ctenotus (Ctenotus schomburgkii) and a Fat- tailed Dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata). The other
pitfalling group had marginally better success, bagging a
few delightful critters including more Fat-tailed
Dunnarts, an Excitable Delma (Delma tincta) and a Lined
Earless Dragon (Tympanocryptis lineata).
After we’d finished our pitfalling each morning we’d1.2.head out to conduct a survey of a Tree Dtella population
on the northern part of the property. An academic who
studies Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) biology and
ecology at the station has an
array of nest boxes he sets
up annually to help collect
data on the finches’ breed-
ing. However, he soon
found out that as soon as the
finches moved out at the end
of the season the dtellas
moved in, as the boxes act
as excellent artificial refuges. So we sent students off to
survey various elements of the dtella population across
these nest boxes. The northern section of the property is
one of my favourite landscapes at the station as it shiftsfrom the typical gibber that dominates the region to a
wonderful sandy loam.One morning, after a particu-
larly quick pitfall trapping
session (absent of animals),
we thought we might take the
students out to one of the
dams to look for an
Australian Bustard (Ardeotis
australis) that had been
spotted there a few days
before. Unfortunately, we had no luck finding the
bustard, however there was plenty of activity on the
ground with tonnes of Leonhard’s Ctenotus (Ctenotus
leonhardii) running from shrub to shrub. We had2 x qtr page ads- A Lined Earless Dragon
(Tympanocryptis lineata) was one
of the highlights of pitfalling. Image
by Matthew Brun. - A few Fat-tailed Dunnarts
(Sminthopsis crassicaudata) were
also bagged in the pitfall traps.
Image by Matthew Brun. - The Thick-tailed Geckos
(Underwoodisaurus milii) in
western NSW are literally giants!
Image by Simon Gorta. 3.^