The Eyre Peninsula in South Australia is a great place to visit.
Large stands of old growth mallee from Kimba across to Iron Knob and through to
Whyalla is home to some excellent bird
species along with exciting reptiles and mammals.
I spent a couple of days exploring the Middleback Range between
Whyalla and Kimba. I unexpectedly ran into my friends Dave and Sue who had also
planned a weekend here so that was a very pleasant surprise and it was one of the most
social weekends I’ve had in a long time.
Although the weekend was very windy, which made birding difficult we
were still able to locate the areas specialities, Blue-breasted Fairy-wren and
Western Yellow Robin, along with Pipits who were very active in the heat of day, Yellow-rumped Thornbill and Slender-billed Thornbill who favoured saltbush areas as well as one of the mallee's most precious jewels, Splendid Fairy-wren.
Blue-breasted Fairy-wren
Western Yellow Robin
Australasian Pipit
Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Yellow-rumped Thornbll
Splendid Fairywren
Splendid Fairy-wren
Sue and Dave
Old growth mallee as far as you can see
Reptiles were the main highlights for me over the weekend.
This area is well known for Peninsula Dragon. A trip to Secret Rocks provided
great views of both the well coloured male and the plainer female.
Gravid Female Peninsula Dragon
Peninsula Dragon - female
Peninsula Dragon - Male
Crested Dragon, which are also known as Bicycle Lizard
because they stand up and run on their hind legs when disturbed were seen basking
on the side of the track.
Crested Dragon
Mallee Military Dragon favour the old growth mallee and are
dwarfed by the Common Bearded Dragon.
Common Bearded Dragon
Bearded Dragon climb saltbush to sunbake
Western Blue-tongue Lizard
Sand Goanna were seen in a few locations especially in
Spinifex dominated understorey.
Sand Goanna
I had driven back to Whyalla when I received an sms from Sue
stating they had seen my most wanted target species – Thorny Devil, so the
following morning I returned again to Middleback Range searching a 30km stretch
of mallee in the hope of finding one for myself. Thankfully I was successful.
Moloch horridus - Thorny Devil - also known as Thorny Dragon
This species have a fake head behind their real head, if a predator approaches they bend their real head forward leaving the fake head in its place!
Thorny Devil look prehistoric
To say I was STOKED would be an understatement! This gorgeous reptile has the unfortunate
name of Moloch horridus which I think is rather unkind. Interestingly though, this is the only species in the Genus Moloch.
If you look closely it’s
head resembles the prehistoric Triceratops! These amazing creatures move very
slowly, they only eat ants, up to 5000 of them a day! They conserve energy by
waiting for the ants to come to them and then use their tongue to catch them.
I drove the 7 hrs
back to Adelaide a VERY happy camper! Thank you Sue and Dave for encouraging me
to get back out there to search – weekend made!!
Getting out and about on weekends is definitely worth it. It really is amazing what you can fit into a weekend and what you can find within a days drive from home, so go on, what are you waiting for? GET OUTSIDE and start looking!!
