Tidbinbilla Part 2 - Reptiles and Insects

[calissa]

Foreshadowing: it's a literary device.



This was the very first thing I saw when I stepped out of the car. It's probably a little hard to tell, but the dark area is a swarm of ants.



I love the artwork they have around the wetland sanctuary.





I took the dragonflies mostly for lark_ascends, who does a far better job of it than I do.

We saw two Gippsland Water Dragons--one in the wild and one in captivity.





I'm pretty sure the water dragon below mugged the blue-tongue lizard and was trying to cover it up by sitting over the sign.





Whaddaya lookin'at, punk?



Red-bellies are pretty venomous, but not all that aggressive. Fortunately, we had plenty of warning of this one from a family who'd been travelling the other direction along the path. It slid along the bank, then fell into the creek... maybe by accident or maybe after the small lizard in the mud. Red-bellies swim quite well.





I'm pretty sure this one thought I had food. It gave me the side-eye when none was forthcoming.



I'm still processing the last of the photos, so stay tuned for Part 3: Birds.

Comments

[nanila]

Ahhh, such wonderful wildlife! I am a little bit in love with the water dragon.

Also, HELLO TURTLE

[calissa]

They both look rather sassy, don't they?

[alee_grrl]

Very nice photos. That snake sculpture is awesome. :)

[calissa]

Thank you!

They really do have some great artwork and sculpture at the wetland sanctuary. I really liked its reuse of horseshoes.

[pantha]

Ooooh, lovely photos. I'm rather in awe of all the reptiles you have. (Although, given how many of them are venomous, I'm quite happy to observe them via the medium of photographs!)

[calissa]

Thank you! We do have some pretty cool reptiles around here. Most are content to keep to themselves, but I do try to be careful. Fortunately, the camera has a decent zoom.

[pantha]

Yeah, I'm quite happy with my "7 wild reptiles total, only one of which is venomous" thing going on here. :P

[onewhitecrow]

What a beautiful snake and what a bizarre turtle-thing...what sort of ants are they that swarm high up like that, or was there something good up there?

[calissa]

Turtle-thing has claws, so perhaps I was mistaken in calling it a turtle. I don't currently have any field guides covering reptiles. Might have to remedy that.

I have no idea what was going on with the ants. It did seem rather strange and it was high enough up that it was difficult to tell what was going on.

[onewhitecrow]

It's in the water, though, that makes it at least a terrapin. We-ell, if you learn the names of things, you gain power over them. Or at least the power to know what their names are and what they do, which might be useful if, say, some species only like swimming holes with resident crocodiles to scavenge from...

No wingy ones?

[calissa]

Forewarned is forearmed, after all.

No wingy ants that I saw. I'm thinking there must have been something tasty, because there were a few butterflies that kept trying to get there.

[bunny_m]

It's probably a little hard to tell, but the dark area is a swarm of ants.

Okay, I totally did not notice until I read this, and mow my skin is crawling... ;>.>


Yay, Dragonflies!

Grumpy tortoise is adorably grumpy.

Re Red-bellied black snakes: Did you see the article in the news the past couple days about a guy in a ute looking out his drivers window to see what the tapping was, and somewhat surprised to see one of these clearly saying "Mate, open the damn window before I fall off!"

[bunny_m]

And for those that aren't 'local', here's the link.

[calissa]

Apologies for that.

Grumpy tortoise seemed most put out I didn't bring food.

I didn't see the article! Poor snake. I'm glad they were able to get it to safety, though it must have been quite alarming to see such a big snake by the window.

[lark_ascends]

Gorgeous again. Particularly love the turtle/tortoise.

Pretty sure it's a Common Flatwing Damselfly in these photos, too. :-)

[calissa]

Thank you!

Yep, pretty likely, since it was in the same spot.