First a short update.. And then onto
the more important things in life!
As I have mentioned to some of my
regular readers who have enquired about the recent lack of posts, worry not,
the lack of posts is simply down to my compulsive desire to order this blog
chronologically. As many of you know, I was once again in Ecuador for some time
during November and into December of last year. The details and images from
that trip I am not currently able to share online. As such, I have been
reluctant to post. However, images and experiences are very quickly
accumulating and will soon overtake my ability to keep up without a concerted
effort… So here goes!
The last few months have been a real
roller-coaster. I returned from Ecuador, packed up my camera gear (and the rest
of my life), finished off a few bits of work and within the week moved to
Queensland, Australia. Specifically Smithfield, just to the north of Cairns,
where I am now attending James Cook University and Studying my masters degree
with a focus on natural resource management. Unfortunately, shortly after
arriving in Australia, it became apparent that four of my lingering insect
bites from Ecuador were in fact not healing. Quite the opposite, they were
expanding – I came back with my usual compliment of parasites, this time
cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania
panamensis. This did put me out of action due to having large open wounds (complicated by large punch biopsies) in awkward places – just above my left knee (two x 4cm by 2cm wounds) and the waistline of my lower back
for instance – for some time. Though, thankfully, due to some lovely medication
I am now on the mend and have now achieved complete healing of one lesion.
Being that these things have now been around since the beginning of December,
it really does feel like an achievement to see skin re-growing over the wound
site.
I didn’t let the leish (as I refer to
it as) bother me too much though – it has rather been an educational and
interesting experience and my treatment involved and still involves the first trial of an oral
drug (industrial quantities of fluconazole if anyone is interested) against my particular species of leish, as far as I can find in the
literature.. Though undoubtedly individual case reports are frequently left
unpublished.
Onto the good stuff! Since arriving,
and establishing myself, I have made forays out into the Atherton tablelands,
north into the Daintree area, and locally around the Cairns area and the new species
are pouring in. Just last night I photographed a new (to me) species of snake. Due to the overwhelmingly exciting reptile and amphibian species to be found - I have been slacking on the bird photography and the following posts will be therefore rather herp/invert heavy.
First up the image above and below shows a 'Green-eyed tree frog' (Litoria genimaculata) a name that certainly suits some individuals more than others. A rainforest species usually associated with water, the serrations along the extremities of the frog help it to melt into its surroundings and escape the notice of predators and photographers.
The images above and below here show a 'Desert tree frog' (Litoria rubella) not a name I would associate with a frog found in the wet-tropics region of far north Queensland! However, this frog is very adaptable and tolerant of a wide range of conditions. These individuals were photographed in forest bordering a creek immediately behind a beach. When I saw this species for the first time I thought their bauplan to be rather odd for a Hylid - but then when I encountered other Australian Hylidae sp. my perception of this changed..!
Northern dwarf tree frogs (Litoria bicolour). A small, and sweet frog, challenging to separate from L. fallax in the field. The seperation is easy for the frog below due to the presence of a dorsolateral bronze coloured stripe. In individuals with a less evident stripe as above, the seperation may be made using the frogs call as a characteristic. The first part of the call of L. bicolor is twice as long as in L. fallax.
Below is a Northern barred frog (Mixophyes schevilli). This is the first species of Myobatrachidae or Australian ground frog that I found and photographed. This species is range restricted to rainforest areas a within a small distance along the coast from Cairns in either direction and making it inland as far as the Atherton tablelands. Every individual I have encountered immediately hits the deck as soon as my torch lands on them or else I would probably have some more interesting photos of them by now!
Another representative of the Myobatrachidae, this time a Limnodynastes peronii or imaginatively named Brown-striped frog. This male is vocalising, as seen by the enlarged vocal sac. The out of focus white mass to the upper left of the image is a foamy egg-mass. Though there were hundreds of frogs calling from the pool where I found this chap, I could only locate 4-5 individuals as they are very quick to slip back into the water and disappear!
One last frog.. For now! The two images below show an Ornate burrowing frog (Platyplectrum ornatum), another Myobatrachidae species. One of these images I shared already this week but couldn't resist doing so again.. This is one of two species in its genus, both burrowing frogs that typically emerge after rain. This frog gave me the first ID challenge I've had with amphibians over here so far - a species with a highly variable pattern, and a similar overall appearance to many other frogs. I look forward to the next challenge!
I will aim to post on here from now on once a week - most likely towards the end of the week. Over the coming weeks I am also aiming to establish a natural history society with a focus on getting people interested in taxonomy - particularly in the field. The inspiration for this came from a seminar earlier this week where it was made very apparent that there is thought to be a worrying lack of field ID skills in the younger generations of Australian ecologists. I will be writing a draft plan for this over the next week or two and if anyone is interested or would like to share their thoughts I will happily send over the plan when it is ready.
