Australia May 2010

[Autobot]

1 - Sunset from camp near Bluff Hut, Alpine National Park, Victoria



2 - First Fall at Morialta Gorge, South Australia



3 - The Loddon Range. Midwest Tasmania



4 - Sunrise at Lake Wetherell



5 - "The Drip", Goulburn River National Park, NSW



6 - Morning mist in the Catherine River Valley, from Mt Speculation, Alpine NP, Vic



7 - heysen trail near Quorn



8 - Maddens Falls, Dharawal State Conservation Area NSW



9 - Near Green Cape - Sunrise



10 - Morning light on tree near Bigga.


(This post/poll automatically generated by the Photo Competition system)

[trickos]

Thats a tough lot to choose a winner from.

[kanangra]

Say that again. In the end i went for no 7 because it was different.

[Taurë-rana]

Yes, some great photos. It's good to see so many mainland entries.

[iandsmith]

Yes, nice to see a few more. Thought the right pic got it this time. Love the fact it's in focus all the way, excellent shot.
I've taken around 4,000 for June, shame the entries are limited! Cheers all.

[Autobot]

Congratulations to the winner of the Australia May 2010 competition, with 13 votes:

• jcr_au - heysen trail near Quorn

The key to all entries for this competition is below.

1 - Sunset from camp near Bluff Hut, Alpine National Park, Victoria
by Earwig.

2 - First Fall at Morialta Gorge, South Australia
by eggs.

3 - The Loddon Range. Midwest Tasmania
by ILUVSWTAS.

4 - Sunrise at Lake Wetherell
by iandsmith.

5 - "The Drip", Goulburn River National Park, NSW
by davidmorr.

6 - Morning mist in the Catherine River Valley, from Mt Speculation, Alpine NP, Vic
by north-north-west.

7 - heysen trail near Quorn
by jcr_au.

8 - Maddens Falls, Dharawal State Conservation Area NSW
by johnw.

9 - Near Green Cape - Sunrise
by robl.

10 - Morning light on tree near Bigga.
by casey79.

[stepbystep]

Nice shot jcr_au, best month for the Aus comp yet IMHO

[north-north-west]

Well-deserved, that's a marvellous shot.

[jcr_au]

Thanks for the votes and those comments guys.

There were a lot of really great shots this month and I happened to be in the right spot to capture this little fellow.

I was able to get 1 shot from about 4 metres when, as she has already pointed out, my wife spotted it beside the trail, and another 3 getting a little closer, until (s)he shot off into the bush. Just set a reasonable aperture in aperture control & hoped the dof worked out.

Now I have to find out what sort of Lizard it is

I guess I've got a good shot to turn into an avatar

[Taurë-rana]

It's a great photo, jcr_au, but I must admit, I voted for it because it was so cute.

[north-north-west]

It's not a lizard, it's some sort of dragon.
And if you don't know anywhere else to get an ID, go to the ABC's Scribbly Gum forum, and post a link to the photo there. Someone will know what it is.

[johnw]

Excellent work John R/jcr_au. I'll see if I can find your dragon in one of the books I have here.
This was a great month for the Aus comp. Must be a record number of entries I think, and some great shots .

[jcr_au]

Thanks for the comments John.

If you could find out what the little fella/Sheila is I'd be grateful. I've spent a few hours on the net trying to track it down, but no luck yet and living in the bush means there's not much access to other info sources

[tasadam]

This site might help
http://www.cityofgosford.com/lizards/index.htm

Maybe this site can add to the info
http://www.kingsnake.com/oz/lizards/agamids/agamids.htm

Heaps of lizard photos on this topic
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/fiel ... pt4-115576
at the Australian Pythons and snakes forum. yes there's a forum for everything, even bushwalking!

Maybe if you get really stuck you could ask someone from that forum?
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/aust ... zards-5383

[jcr_au]

NNW, thanks for that suggestion. I must admit I've never heard of the scribbly gum forum but I have posted a link to a couple of images, so here's hoping

[jcr_au]

I think I've found him

on one of the links Tasadam provided
http://www.kingsnake.com/oz/lizards/agamids/cpictus.htm

PAINTED DRAGON - Ctenophorus pictus

Its got a fairly wide range, it would appear, and a bit of a variety in markings, but it certainly appears to be this one.

Thanks everyone for all your help

[johnw]

I think I've found him

on one of the links Tasadam provided
http://www.kingsnake.com/oz/lizards/agamids/cpictus.htm

PAINTED DRAGON - Ctenophorus pictus

Its got a fairly wide range, it would appear, and a bit of a variety in markings, but it certainly appears to be this one.

Thanks everyone for all your help

Finally managed to look it up. The images in my reptile field guide are a bit small to be conclusive but yes, Ctenophorus pictus does look like a possible match. Others worth investigating (I think) may be:
PENINSULA DRAGON - Ctenophorus fionni
MALLEE MILITARY DRAGON - Ctenophorus fordi
Definitely seems to be of the genus Ctenophorus, which my reference says contains 22 species.

[north-north-west]

The consensus on ScribblyGum is also the Painted Dragon.

They're a useful mob, over there. If anyone ever needs help on IDing anything, from bugs to fungi, there's usually someone who can help.

[jcr_au]

John & NNW

Thanks for that. googling c pictus brings up a lot of images and whilst there is some variation quite a few look exactly like my little creature

NNW - Scribbly gum certainly seems like a really helpful resource - thanks for mentioning it

[north-north-west]

Yeah. We do have a thread that has useful links, I should probably add one for them - although one does have to be a member to post there, and have photos hosted elsewhere as there's no HTML.