Buggin with Bridgey – November 2024

Buggin with Bridgey is a Monthly report of sightings from the Let’s Go Buggin Cairns Nature & Photography Tour in the Cairns Botanic Gardens.  As the months roll by, subtle changes in the seasons bring sightings of new creatures and this report aims to give people a wrap up of the current animals seen as well as provide an ongoing citizen science account of our wonderful critters that can be seen in the Wet Tropics of Queensland.

I was seriously impressed with the amphibians in this region.  There are roughly 250 known species who call the Western Ghats home.  We managed to see over 20 species in 2 weeks.  The most memorable being the Resplendent Shrubfrog (Raorchestes resplendens).  Transiting to the location to see this frog was an adventure in itself, having to ride in Jeeps to a high altitude to their very specific habitat.    The long and bumpy trip was absolutely worth it to see this very unusual IUCN Critically Endangered listed Frog.

Resplendent Shrubfrog (Raorchestes resplendens)

Another favorite frog encounter was seeing the False Malabar Gliding Frog (Rhacophorus pseudomalabaricus).  Photographing this frog in-situ sitting on Bracken Fern in the rain, posing naturally like this was truly delightful!  This is some of the best natural frog poses I’ve ever seen!  This species is one of a few ‘gliding’ frogs, so named due to their ability to do their best ‘falling with style’ Buzz Lightyear impersonation.   Their feet have substantial webbing which allows them to seemingly ‘glide’.  This is also another IUCN listed Critically Endangered species.  I plan on doing a Blog just on the frogs of this region in the future as there are so many fascinating species.

False Malabar Gliding Frog (Rhacophorus pseudomalabaricus)

I was blown away by the magnificence of this lizard!  The Large Scaled Forest Lizard (Calotes grandisquamis) is endemic to the Western Ghats, India. This beautiful reptile is semi-arboreal and lives on insects.  It sits within the Iguana Order.  They reach a total length of around 40cm, with over half of that being tail.  We were lucky enough to see two individuals and from what I witnessed they are a very chilled out species.  It was an absolute pleasure to see them.

Large Scaled Forest Lizard (Calotes grandisquamis)

Arguably the most stunning of big cats is the Leopard (Panthera pardus).  They are just an unbelievably beautiful animal.  We saw this individual for two consecutive days.  It is watching a small herd of Gaur (Buffalo), with a young calf and trying to decide if it’s worth the effort to jump down from this tree and try and make a kill. Leopards have quite an extensive geographical range including Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia, but are considered Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus ssp. fusca)

Whilst there are an abundant spiders in the region, this unusual spider stood out as one of the most interesting.  At first I thought it might have been a Gastracantha, however, upon uploading it onto iNaturalist, I have learned that it is a type of Bolas Spider within the Pasilobus Genus.  An amazing behaviour trait of Bolas spiders is that they create a ball of goop at the end of a silk line and use it like a lasso to catch their prey.  Its crazy, but its true!

Bolas Spider (Pasilobus sp.)

Seeing wild Elephants (Elephas maximus indicus) roam freely through various locations in the Western Ghats was certainly one of the highlights of the Buggin Reconnaissance Safari. However, one special encounter sticks out.  On one of our days in Valparai, our local expert and guide, Hadlee, learned of a herd of elephants nearby.  We had to quickly hire some Jeeps for this off-road adventure and after several turnoffs through the maze of Tea plantations, we eventually came to a landscape of gentle sloping hills and valleys. Coming down one slope was a herd of around 19 elephants.  It was a magical sight to say the least.  We watched them for a around two hours, even through a quick downpour.

Indian Elephants (Elephas maximus indicus)

There are some serious Birding opportunities in the Western Ghats.  We were constantly seeing birds of a great variety.  In fact, there are over 1300 known species in the region.   One species of Kingfisher called the White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) was a regular sighting, but it was often eluding us until we saw this individual.

White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)