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 38 O C. 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’d
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