Travelling through memories . . .

Close-up of a Mountain dragon (Rankinia diemensis)

Environmental shot of a Mountain dragon (Rankinia diemensis)

I had a very pleasant trip down memory lane with my Dad recently, visiting some very important places in the New England area.  We stopped off briefly in the Moonbi ranges, and I was delighted to watch the antics of the local Mountain dragons, Rankinia diemensis.  

These beautiful, energetic little dragons are found in the higher and cooler elevations of south eastern Australia and are Tasmania's only dragon.  They are extremely endearing because of the speed, alertness and intelligence that seems to burn behind their eyes.  There is an awareness and intelligence in these little dragons that is rarely seen in other reptiles, though I am undoubtedly thoroughly biased.  I have spent quite a while watching their delightful antics, head-bobbing, arm waving and suddenly squinting suspiciously at the sky for potential attack from birds.  They are just so alert and so bloody fast !  Though the Moonbi ranges are not part of the Hunter Valley, Mountain dragons are found in the Hunter, so I decided to include this observation on the blog.  

Mountain dragons are slightly similar in appearance to the far more common Jacky lizard, Amphibolurus muricatus which is found over much of eastern NSW at lower elevations.  An experienced herpetologist will pick the two species apart readily from a distance in the field through noticeable differences in head shape, but the casual observer will definitely struggle.  The easiest way to differentiate the species is the colour of the mouth - Mountain dragons have fleshy pink mouths while Jacky lizards have bright yellow mouths like a Bearded dragon.   

Environmental portrait of a Mountain dragon (Rankinia diemensis)

  

Nesting White-breasted woodswallows

White-breasted woodswallow, Artamus leucorynchus about to swap with its mate on their nest.

White-breasted woodswallow on the nest. 

Over the October long-weekend this year, the wife & I took the opportunity to spend some time sailing on Lake Macquarie.  We pulled up on what we jokingly call "Walter's Island", a small island to let the dogs run, swim and generally burn off some energy.  I couldn't help but notice a White-breasted woodswallow, (Artamus leucorynchus) paying a bit too much attention to the dogs' antics. 

I slowly scanned around at the trees nearby and sure enough, there was a rough ball of a nest with a tail hanging over the edge.  It was only about three and a half metres off the ground in the fork of one of the Casurina spp trees.  No wonder the Woodswallow was upset.   

We kept the dogs away from the area and watched with delight as the Woodswallows took their turn on the nest, changing every twenty or thirty minutes to hunt and feed.  I suspect they were incubating eggs as there were no begging cries audible at shift change 

I took a couple of representative images, and we left the area.  It was great to see, and just something the average person would rarely have an opportunity to observe.  The sighting has been logged with the Atlas of Living Australia.