Bush sign posts

 

"This is MY patch !" says the local wombat

Distinctively "squarish" Wombat scats and scratchings

If you've spent much time in the bush here in Lake Macquarie, you will have seen the territorial scat piles that Wombats leave to mark their territory.  If they're fresh (like the one above) you can't miss the scratchings and unmistakeable smell of fresh earth and stinky poo !    

Wombats are friendly herbivores, that eat nothing but roots and leaves.  There has to be a joke there somewhere.  They are extremely common in the Hunter Valley, though unless you're driving in the bush at night you usually won't see them.  But you'll certainly see where they have been. This is a typical example of their scat markings - they'll leave a gift somewhere unmissable - such as the middle of a bush track, surrounded by scratchings to make it even more obvious. The smell from this pile made my nose hairs curl as I walked past it yesterday.  "Mine, Mine, MINE !" it screamed.  

The funny thing you will notice about Wombat poo is that it is typically square.  So next time you're in the bush and see unmistakeable, matchbox-sized cubes of poo perched carefully on a rock in the middle of a track, you know what left them !              

New-born Red-bellied black snake

 

I was walking the dogs in Belmont North last night and found yet another snake freshly killed, dead on the road (DOR).  This time, the unfortunate snake was a new-born Red-bellied black snake, Pseudechis porphyriacus. 

I've kept many of this species over the years, and found them very interesting animals.  Intelligent, very robust in captivity and very reluctant to bite.  In captivity though, you really need to be careful not to become blasé with them, as they are highly poisonous if they do bite, and they are absolute PIGS when it comes to feeding time.  

It is interesting for a lot of non-herpetologists to realise that Red-bellied blacksnakes usually do not have red-bellies !  The "red-belly" is usually just a couple of rows of scales on the edges of the belly.  Often the belly is much paler, and even WHITE !  You might notice that the scales under the tail, past the cloaca (fancy word meaning anus) are black.  I have never seen a Red-bellied black snake without a black tail like this - even newborn snakes like this one are black beneath the tail.  It's very hard to see in this image, because the snake's head has been crushed, but the tip of it's nose will almost always have a brown tip.       

Speaking of colours, this snake has an orange coloured belly - and if you didn't know - looks almost exactly the same as the colour on the belly of the Golden-crowned snake two posts back.           

Rough-scaled snake flavoured road-pizza

 

Here's a Rough-scaled snake, with a crushing headache, just north of the Mungo Brush camping area. Its probably been dead on the road for at least a week, but even in death, its keeled scales show it is unmistakeably a Rough-scaled snake (Tropidechis carinatus).  I know it's a gory photo, but it is important as a voucher specimen. 

The map above is from the Atlas of Living Australia, and the record in the water is actually one I submitted THIRTY YEARS AGO this month. I found it freshly dead on the road, and lodged the carefully preserved specimen with the Australian Museum.  I must have entered the location easting with a typo, as it was actually on the road immediately to the east (where the other record is).  This was the southern-most record of the species for decades.  The next most southerly record was Gloucester Tops, well to the North-west.  The Newcastle herpetological community knew about the Rough-scaled snakes at Mungo for many years before I lodged my specimen, but it was an extremely tightly kept secret. I copped a lot of flack from my mates at the time for "blowing the whistle" on them.       

Looking at it these days, it seems no-one keeps anything secret. There has been a spate of new records for the species, and the southern-most record is now Patonga !  

For the non-herpetologist, the Rough-scaled snake is a fascinating little beastie.  In NSW, they tend not to get as large as other elapids.  Around 1.2 m or so seems to pull most of them up.  They are extremely alert, quite fast, and usually very lively to handle.  They have large fangs and if you are unlucky enough to get bitten, they have a unique venom.  It's venom is related to tiger snakes, and will be neutralised by tiger snake antivenom.  It has a unique property - most people bitten will pass out briefly within minutes of being bitten.  Once the person regains consciousness shortly afterwards, envenomation proceeds much like a tiger snake bite.  Definitely one you do not want to get bitten by !               

Golden crowned snake

 

I was very pleasantly surprised to find one of my favourite snakes out and about this week.  I was on my evening walk with my dog, and encountered a gorgeous Golden crowned snake out hunting, just after dark, in a small patch of bushland near Casa da Ayre in Belmont North.  They are nocturnal and quite common in the general area. I have encountered a few in Belmont North over the years while out for an evening walk.  Because they are nocturnal, most locals wouldn't know they were present.      

While this species is a venomous elapid, they are usually very reluctant indeed to try to bite. Instead they tend to bluff their way out an encounter by posturing and bluff striking with their mouths firmly closed.  If that fails, they'll thrash wildly away from the threat as fast as they can. If you pick one up, they have a bright orange belly, and will readily smear a foul-smelling secretion all over your hand and fingers. 

I have never known one to try to bite, but they certainly could if you picked one up. They are simply interested in running away as fast as possible and pose zero threat to people.  They are thought to feed mostly on skinks, small dragons and frogs, so allegedly their venom is very mild. Most people would have a reaction similar to a bee or wasp sting, but as with all snakes, it's best not to find out. 

I kept my dog well back, took a few quick voucher photos with my phone and stamped my feet a couple of times.  The snake simply glided away back into the undergrowth to resume hunting.  Beautiful !                

A rustle from above

 

It was about 8:30pm last night, about half an hour after proper-dark.  I was enjoying my evening walk with one of the dogs last night, when something overhead caught her attention. Looking up, a Brush-tailed possum eyed us sceptically from the branches, some 15 metres or so above. 

"Yawn, just another Brushie", I thought to myself. 

Then I chuckled and caught myself.  I took a few moments to appreciate a lovely native animal, perfectly adapted to life in the suburbs amongst people.  Common species of native urban wildlife gets very much taken for granted, unless it's injured or annoying.  I just paused and watched this one for almost a minute, suddenly noticing another large adult Brush-tail watching us from much higher in the canopy of a nearby tree.  A few moments later, I smiled, patted Mabel and resumed our evening exercise.  

Its funny how I tend to take such common animals for granted.  It's interesting that we are two days out from the new moon, and usually I see possums in abundance at this stage of the lunar cycle.  We have Ring-tailed possums in profusion locally as well.  But last night, despite looking carefully for them, these were the only two possums we observed in the entire 6.5km course of our walk. 

Dingo

 

Once upon a time, in a previous life I've left far, far behind, (last millennium), I was a zoo keeper.  Dingoes were one of my favourite charges, and I still have a very soft spot for them to this day.  They are charismatic, shamelessly aloof and highly intelligent. There is something "knowing" in their expression.     

This beautiful young male crossed the road in front of me and watched from the road verge, near Mungo Brush, Myall Lakes National Park, Monday 4th March 2024.  Dingoes are still a common sight here to this day.