Stony mulga with Eriacne/Eremophila understorey
The pattern was quickly established and rigorously adhered to: a rolling system was devised wherein we would awaken early every day to check 2-6 trap sites, construct one more and take down those that had been up for three days. Being smaller than Scotia, Bowra was easier to get around, and between us three, the two ecologists and one other volunteer who stayed for half our trip, we had plenty of hands to efficiently carry out all the tasks. Checking traps was the easy part; digging in holes for the 10L buckets was far more arduous: the soils we dug in alternated between highly compact alluvial clay and loose clay interspersed with gibber stones and boulders. Digging bars were necessary to help break through the hard soil and rocks, which were sometimes even bigger than the buckets themselves. After that, laying the traps and setting up the camera and Elliot arrays was a comparative walk in the park!
The other worry was the large numbers of feral animals present; unlike Scotia, Bowra has, as yet, none of the infrastructure for keeping out feral animals. As a result, wild goats, pigs, foxes, cats and rabbits run riot through the sanctuary. Additionally, the deal struck with the previous landowner allowed him to continue
running his livestock on the sanctuary until the end of June, meaning cows and horses were also present (right). To top everything off, the mouse plague was in full swing, ensuring we would catch a healthy crop every night, not to mention a fair few in the house! The result was a fear of having our sites trampled (which happened on several occasions) or our trapping efforts otherwise compromised. In one memorable incident, I was baiting an array of Elliot traps when I heard one trigger behind me. I peered through the bushes to see a ruddy fox had set off a trap and made off with the bait! The next morning, no less than 12 of the 20 traps had been either dud-triggered or had the bait stolen out of them, at least one of them had been pissed and defecated upon; we caught nothing. All this without even mentioning the effect so many clod-footed and cloven-hoofed grazers would have on the environment.If the blatant persistence of ferals was depressing, however, the numbers and variety of native animals we did find provided an exciting and spirit-raising counterpoint. Every day brought some creature that was new for us, and indeed a good number that had never even been previously recorded for the sanctuary. While I had
somehow contrived to go without seeing a single snake on the previous trip, this time we managed no fewer than six species, including three from the brown snake complex: Strap-snouted Brown Snake (Pseudonaja aspidorhyncha) (left), Mengden’s Brown Snake (P. mengdeni) (below) and Ringed Brown Snake (P. modesta). We also found another Dwyer’s Snake, a Curl Snake (Suta suta) and a feisty baby Mulga Snake (Pseudechis australis).
Mengden's Brown Snake (Pseudonaja mengdeni)
Curl Snake (Suta suta)
Mulga (King Brown) Snake (Pseudechis australis)
There were also plenty of interesting lizard species, most notably the two Pebble Dragons we found in stony mulga. True to their name, these lizards are one of the most fascinating examples of reptilian mimesis, their pattern and body contours
splendidly camouflaging them amidst the scattered stones and pebbles. It was out of sheer serendipitous luck that we found them: the first was a tiny baby Smooth-snouted Pebble Dragon (Tympanocryptis intima) (right) that I initially thought was a mole cricket, such was its size and scurrying nature. We subsequently found another of similar size, and Jesse managed to see a second species, the Lined Pebble Dragon (T. lineata) (below) on our last morning. Other dragons getting about were Nobbi Dragons (Amphibolurus nobbi), Burns’ Dragons (A. burnsi), Bearded Dragons (Pogona barbata) and Central Netted Dragons (Ctenophorus nuchalis) (below); this last one was new for all of us.
Lined Pebble Dragon (Tympanocryptis lineata). Photo courtesy Jesse Rowland.
Central Netted Dragon (Ctenophorus nuchalis)
We also managed a handful of geckos
: Bynoe’s Gecko (Heteronotia bynoei), Varied Dtella (Gehyra variegata), Fat-tailed Stone Gecko (Diplodactylus conspicillatus) (left) and Tessellated Stone Gecko (D. tessellatus) (below). We had never seen either Diplodactylus species before, and unbelievably I had to wait this long to see my first Bynoe's Gecko and Varied Dtella; thankfully there were several of these common inland species about for me to appreciate. There had been initial hopes for other interesting species like Strophurus and Nephrurus, but these ultimately came to nought.
Tessellated Stone Gecko (Diplodactylus tessellatus)
Skinks were similarly profuse, ranging from the familiar [Common Bluetongue (Tiliqua scincoides) and Tree Skink (Egernia striolata)] to the unexpected
[Ctenotus ingrami (right)and C. leonhardii (below), both new records for Bowra]. In between were some moderately interesting species, including the tiny Dwarf Skink (Menetia greyii), Southeastern Morethia (Morethia boulengeri), Royal and Barred Ctenotus (Ctenotus regius & C. schomburgkii), Metallic Fence-skink (Cryptoblepharus metallicus) and tiny wormlike Mulch Sliders (Lerista fragilis).
Ctenotus leonhardii
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