Whilst I’ve seen some birds this week, they haven’t grabbed my attention as much as the lizards. It’s that time of year. The sun has warmed up, the days are longer, and the reptiles are waking up, looking for food and looking to breed. The one in the picture above is common around here but you’d be unlikely to see one for most of the year. I’ve seen 5 already this week. It’s called a bobtail because of its stumpy little tail, or sometimes a blue-tongued skink.
All of the ones I’ve seen this week have been marching quite purposefully and don’t seem to mind having their picture taken. They’re about a foot long and quite broad with a wide head. Be warned though they have a nasty bite so don’t try to pick one up.
When we moved to Oz we were told (much to the disappointment of 2 of my sons) that it was unlikely that we’d ever see a snake as they are so shy. But this one was in the garage of our temporary home just a few weeks after our arrival. Dugites are highly venomous so it’s just as well we stopped the enthusiastic boys from trying to pick it up.
This is also a dugite this time in the front garden of our first rental house. It was quite feisty and, again, the boys had to be persuaded not to get too close, despite all the expertise they claimed to have picked up from the professionals on the TV.
This is one of the biggest Australian reptiles. It’s a perentie lizard, the largest of the goannas and one of the biggest monitor lizards in the world. This one was about 5 feet long. I didn’t see it, my husband took this photo in the far north of WA. You can see from the picture just how fantastic its camouflage is.
We saw this King’s skink on Penguin Island. It seemed strange to me. We were having a picnic on the grass and the skinks were ‘begging’ for scraps just like pigeons in the UK. Not having seen many lizards in my life, and certainly not a foot long, I was pretty unnerved by it, and worried in case they bite.
We do get smaller lizards and skinks too they aren’t all huge! This one was only about 4 inches long. I can’t tell you which sort they are as I struggle to identify them, there are so many similar sorts. This one had lines of red spots on its sides and legs. It was very narrow and about 8 inches long.
The one below is my favorite of the week though. It lives between our garden wall and the garage next door. It comes out to sit on top of the wall and warm itself up in the sun. I can’t tell you what sort it is, but it’s black, 21 inches long and our neighbor thinks it is the one that has been living here for years. I keep referring to it as ‘him’ but I’ve no idea whether anyone can tell whether it’s male or female just by looking without picking it up. If anyone can shed any light on its gender or what sort of lizard it is I’d love to know.