A New Spring

By our calendar it is still winter in Canberra, but the wildlife have considered it spring for a couple of weeks now and they are showing the signs.

This Shingleback was sunning itself in a wood the other day, the first of two I saw that day and the fourth so far this Spring. They all lay perfectly motionless with their bodies spread wide to absorb the sun's heat.

This Golden-headed Cisticola popped up out of the grass as I passed through an ungrazed paddock overgrown with weeds. He gave a few alarm calls at my presence then dropped back down and disappeared into the grsss.

And the first Tawny Frogmouths have laid their eggs. The males are now incubating all day, for the next four weeks, remaining still to avoid detection by predators, such as Brown Goshawks, a pair of which were displaying over this birds nest wood. 

The frogmouths share incubation during the night, but during the day, this bird's partner will remain similarly still in her nearby roost all day, watching for predators - and watching me as I pass by.

 First Shingleback of the Spring

The weather picked up a bit last week. It was bit warmer, there was blossom on all the fruit trees and many birds are well into breeding mode. And there hasn't been a frost for a while. All enough to encourage the reptiles to come out from their snug winter quarters under logs, rocks and sheds. Enough for this shingleback to take a wander through the woodlands.

I always stop to chat to these lovely lizards when I meet one. They are so harmless, quiet and sort of trusting that we won't hurt them, as they are too slow to escape. I just hope that more people do the same and don't bother them by picking them up and stressing them. Take a good look at them, get to know them, share the bush with them. 

I particularly like how the scales around their eyes fit together so well. The dust highlights this one's features and it's eye is intensely focused on the camera lens -  a big eye from its perspective.

It is obvious how they gained their name, shingleback, the scales along their back fit together like shingles on a roof, and they are just as efficient at casting water. But that dust does tend to get into all the cracks.

Heads or Tails

Not the head, but the tail of a Shingleback

The local reptiles are beginning to show as Spring moves on and the days warm up. There have been rustles in the garden when the little skinks scurried for cover as I passed and I saw my first Shingleback Tiliqua rugosa in the bush a few days ago. These are a species of blue-tongue skink, one of the larger types of lizards in south-east Australia, and as they are slow moving and terrestrial, they need a few tricks for defence from predators.

A Shingleback out in the open, seen from above - a raptor's eye view. Which is the head end?

Their main adaptation for protection from predators is deception by camouflage. They are a simple long brown, grey shape that mimics a stick or small broken branch lying on ground. This probablly hides them from aerial predators such as, in our area, Little and Wedge-tailed Eagles. Then if a predator ventures closer, it might be tricked into attacking the tail rather than the head end of the Shingleback because the tail mimics the form of the head. The skink's next strategy when touched is to turn itself around into a tight U-shape, open its mouth wide open, and thrust out its large blue tongue - a shock or startle defence. Blue is such an unusual colour in animals, that it probably has a particularly high startle effect. However, this startle is mostly bluff as the Shingleback has little else to defend itself. They are mostly vegetarian, with a fondness for soft flowers, so they do not have large or sharp teeth or claws.

When seen from ground level, the eyes make the head more obvious

I would like to see their defence in action against a predator, although at the same time would rather not as I like shinglebacks and would not like to see one hurt. They are such quiet non-aggressive animals. Perhaps the evidence of me seeing them quite frequently when out in the bush is enough to prove their defence's efficiency.

Shinglebacks are quiet and easily overlooked, but their slow lifestyle makes them easy prey for their main predators,
which these days are the introduced fox and domestic cat 

See the previous posts on shinglebacks listed on the right for more information on them, including a shot of that blue tongue.

Sign of Spring

A male Shingleback follows a female - slowly

Yesterday I came across this pair of Shinglebacks Tiliqua rugosa in the local bush. They are considered to pair, as they remain in the same partnership for years. They can live for over ten years and they probably share overlapping home ranges, which in turn probably leads them to more likely mate together in spring, rather than with individuals from farther afield. I have only ever seen them this close together in spring when they are about to mate. So, are they a pair or simply in a loose partnership.

The female was longer, and had a fatter tail - probably important for her to be in good breeding condition

The male was creeping along behind the female, following her scent, which contains pheromones, signalling that she will soon be ready to mate. The male would want to be close by all that time to ensure that he is there when she is ready and to ward off any intruding males in the meantime.

The male was following in her tracks, tracing her scent trail

Most skinks are quick to run off as soon as approached and we seldom have time for a decent look at them. Shinglebacks however remain still and rely on that to conceal them - they just look like sticks lying in the shadows, and they are usually under grasses or shrubs.

The scales or scutes of a reptile's skin are perfectly arranged with exquisite detail around the mouth, nose and eyes

I took these photographs from less than two metres, more than close enough to capture the detail of their scale patterns without making them feel insecure and want to run (shuffle) off as a last minute defense.

Shinglebacks are quiet and unobtrusive, they allow  close approach, but I never pick them up - that would be obtrusive

A Quiet Vegetarian

Shingleback eating flowers

While out in the woods today I came across this little guy, a shingleback lizard. I see these animals most days I am out in the local woods, but usually I just say hello and walk on by, leaving them in peace. They are such quiet, passive animals, and almost completely vegetarian.

I could see this one from way off as I walked along a dirt road. It was struggling to pull down the long stems of a feral weed, a crucifer of some sort, to get at the flowers. But as it has such short legs and toes it could barely bend the stems over. So I pulled a few flower stalks and presented them to it. The shingleback took them straight away, no fear. I carried on chatting to it and gathered a heap of flower heads. Soon it was  eating out of my hand, it's lips touching my fingers as I held the stalks so it could pull off all the rich protein-filled parts of the flowers. 

A marvelous experience, to be trusted like that. 

Shingleback
Trachydosaurus rugosus

While on the recent trip out to western New South Wales we came across several Shingleback lizards.

A shingleback, or stumpytail as they are frequently called, throws out its tongue

 in threat display on being steered away from the roadside for its own safety.

These lizards spend much of their time resting among low ground and leaf litter, 

and when lying still their spiny scales resemble those of pine cones, even though 

there are none of those in the area.

They are quiet animals, feeding mostly on plant parts, flowers, seeds etc. 

And despite their threat display they have no real bite to be aware of.

Unique in reptiles, they live in pairs, closely in spring during the mating season, 

and still in the same general area for the rest of the time. Mark Clayton found 

these two resting under an old sheet of corrugated iron.