Kimberley flora and fauna

This is bit of a nature blog on some of what we saw on our Kimberley travels as there was too many photos to put on the other post.

Birds by far were the most obvious and abundant animals, especially around rivers and water holes. Wetlands especially were teeming with waterbirds but many were not overly full due to the region's lower than average rainfall in the previous wet season.

Magpie Geese and Whistling Ducks at Parry's Lagoon near Wyndham

Straw-necked Ibis were common

Intermediate Egret

Jabiru

Masked Lapwings

Pied Heron

Radjah Shelduck

Australian Little Grebe

Darter sunning itself at Windjana Gorge

 Some of our campsites near rivers or billabongs got very noisy in the morning with all the cacophony of birds and it was hard to get a sleep in.

Whistling Kite were at times abundant, especially around townships. 

Masked Finch.

Peaceful Dove. This tiny dove was found everywhere.

Rainbow Lorikeets preening

Bar-shouldered Dove, a common sound of the tropics

Pied Butcherbird. Most of our campsites had at least one of these chortling their beautiful song each morning

Magpie-lark

Pied Butcherbird eating a grasshopper

White-quilled Rock Pigeon were seen in some rocky gorges but they were very difficult to photograph as they hid amongst the boulders..

Rainbow Bee-eaters were a common sight around river banks

Striated Pardalote

Reptiles were also very common and we did manage to see a few times the most famous in the Kimberley, the Saltwater Crocodile. This one was at Parry's Lagoon and was trying unsuccessfully to stalk waterbirds.

Saltie

The only Freshwater Crocodiles we saw were at Windjana Gorge where we counted at least 19 sunning themselves on the bank and also many at Geikie Gorge. We did hear at one of our campsites a young crocodile yapping late at night.

Freshies

In some gorges the Merten's Water Monitor, a semi aquatic goanna, was seen. These can be unnerving when you are swimming with them as their head looks like a snake when they are half submerged. They've evolved to have a flattened tail and can move fast in the water where they hunt.

Merten's Water Monitor

Another goanna was the large Yellow-spotted Monitor Varanus panoptes. These lizards can grow up to 1.5m in length and this fully grown adult was seen crossing the road.

Yellow-spotted Monitor crossing road

Several Dragon Lizards were common throughout the Kimberley wherever we went. One is the Northern Long-nosed Water Dragon Lophognathus longirostris .This long tailed lizard was found at a lot of small creeks sunning itself on branches and rocks.

Another was the White-lipped Two-lined Dragon Diporiphora albilabris. This species inhabits the drier country, particularly rocky areas with spinifex grass.

Diporiphora albilabris

Ctenophorus dragon in the process of shedding its skin

We were lucky enough to see Frill-necked Lizards on two occasions but they were too quick for my camera. Most 'frillies' should be going into semi-hibernation this time of year so it was good to see some.

Below is a few miscellaneous insects we saw. They make them big in the Kimberley!

Katydid grasshopper

Below is a mix of photos of some interesting plants including a few bush foods we found (and tried). By far the most delicious were the Native Passionfruit Passiflora sp.

Yum!

Another bush food was the native figs Ficus spp.  There were many different varieties of these, some dry and tasteless and others delicious.

A good haul of native figs at Little Merten's Falls

The Boab tree is another bushfood, amongst other uses, but the girls didn't like the powdery texture of the flesh even though they tasted a bit sweet.

Boab nuts

Screw Palms Pandanus sp were common everywhere and this is another bush food used by aboringines salthough we didnt try it as it needs a lengthy preparation. Craig had tried it before in Darwin and it tastes like cabbage and leaves your lips and mouth slightly numb.

Pandanus fruit

Water Lilies were everywhere in permanent billabongs throughout the Kimberley and these two types below were the most common, the one in the first photo being tiny.

Red Everlasting

Red Kurrajong

Orange Bloodwood flowers