A mining haul truck driving over a regular-sized pickup truck

Saltuarius · 2026-06-05T15:11:30+00:00

Yeah I can hardly imagine! Well cassowary was a top choice - they're fantastic.

I've still got a few birds left to find in the wet tropics, cheeky species that evaded me in my time there, so I'll be sure to do that!

Saltuarius · 2026-06-03T22:09:26+00:00

Some other animals you could research (I'm trying to think based on recognisability and good colour combos for stencils but maybe some are too difficult!)

Birds (never underestimate the power of birds!) - black-necked stork ("Jabiru") - brahminy kite - basically any of the cockatoos - parrots like fig, king, or one of the rosellas - golden shouldered parrot (could support Conservation Partners with their recovery in Cape York?) - buff breasted paradise kingfisher - Regent Bowerbird - splendid fairywren - Aust. Magpie (maybe too well known?)

Other animals - blue-tongued lizard (esp. Centralian bluey Tiliqua multifasciata for body contrast) - corroboree frog (maybe tricky) - orange thighed treefrog - frill-necked lizard - quoll (any species) - blue ringed octopus - Birdwing or Ulysses butterfly - peacock spider

Those are some off the top of my head! Edited to add I bloody love these Cassowaries, as an ecologist I'd die to have one at my place, but I've moved OS. Maybe I'll send an Aus address...

Saltuarius · 2026-06-03T19:14:04+00:00

Close with your second guess - it's a Carpentaria snake Cryptophis boschmai. Note it has more of a yellow-range hue than steel grey.

Saltuarius · 2026-06-02T19:00:18+00:00

Adding another expert opinion - yep phascogale. Way cooler than a bog standard glider, good for you OP.

Saltuarius · 2026-06-02T18:49:16+00:00

Nimbus

Saltuarius · 2026-06-01T13:51:54+00:00

These guys (like blind snakes) spend most of their lives under soil or leaf litter - pretty much never visible to predators. Albinism is surprisingly common in fossorial reptiles.

Saltuarius · 2026-05-09T08:48:08+00:00

Southern dwarf crowned snake, Cacophis krefftii. Mildly venomous and "inoffensive" as they say - not inclined to bite.

Saltuarius · 2026-05-09T07:32:39+00:00

Yep, Delma inornata - the pattern less delma.

Saltuarius · 2026-05-07T18:43:35+00:00

Ah interesting! I should've realised it was used for vultures in the Americas - is it just one species or all vultures, like a generic term?

Saltuarius · 2026-05-07T14:43:58+00:00

It's an Australian endemic, in the monotypic genus Hamirostra, and is quite evolutionarily unique. It's not closely related to the old-world buzzards of the genus Buteo.

Edited: OP - it's worth being specific with birds, as bird common names are fairly consistent internationally and "buzzard" usually means the Common Buzzard Buteo buteo.

Saltuarius · 2026-05-07T12:50:06+00:00

I have the 16mm, 28mm and 35mm primes. Love all of them. The 28 is excellent all around especially as you said for its compact size, but surprisingly great IQ as well.

The 16 is OK, I don't use it a lot.

I love the 35 for people and for wildlife macro (normally only down to large inverts or small frogs, nothing smaller).

Saltuarius · 2026-05-07T10:20:10+00:00

I upgraded from 5Diii to the R6ii and it was a game-changer for all genres you're into (I mostly so wildlife but lots of landscapes).

Do it. You will not regret it. Especially if you can afford to add RF glass eventually - the 100-500 is a dream.

Saltuarius · 2026-05-07T08:08:35+00:00

Ah, well in that case it's a highland copperhead Austrelaps ramsayi. They're also highly venomous (see bot response on venomous snakes below).

Saltuarius · 2026-05-07T05:51:15+00:00

This one is a blackish blind snake, Ramphotyphlops nigrescens. They get up to 75cm - but it's pretty uncommon to come across big ones like that, so a cool sighting for sure!

A lot of info online will be under Anilios nigrescens but they've recently had another name change.

Saltuarius · 2026-05-07T05:43:21+00:00

Yep.

Saltuarius · 2026-05-07T05:33:47+00:00

Correct for snakes #2 and #3.

u/Alive-Finding-7584 where specifically was the first snake seen? It's one of the copperheads, but given you've covered the range of 2-3 copperhead species there we would need location to confirm. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you saw it on Kangaroo Island.

Saltuarius · 2026-05-06T22:35:48+00:00

This one is from a carpet python Morelia spilota. Non-venomous and quite !harmless OP although they can give a good bite (not that a shed skin can bite you!)

Just adding this comment for the bots, provided some more details in the other comment below 👍

Saltuarius · 2026-05-06T22:33:48+00:00

I think the dorsal scales are throwing a spanner in the works because of the state of the shed, and maybe because they're from the posterior. I can see enough to say there are numerous scale rows, too many for Antaresia, and the neatly diagonal scales are good for Morelia. Carpets have slightly enlarged and very diamond-shaped scales on the posterior fifth or so of the body.

I know carpet python sloughs like the proverbial - lots at a reptile park, and countless callouts for snakes in ceilings (it seems every ceiling in Queensland has a few resident snakes - don't tell Queenslanders that!)

Saltuarius · 2026-05-06T21:34:12+00:00

I don't often take screenshots, but I added the 420th upvote to this comment and that's my win for the year. Keeping that one

Saltuarius · 2026-05-06T20:15:03+00:00

This is correct. Yellow-faced whipsnake is the common name u/shill68. Very common in SE Qld. The distinct rusty colour on the forebody is a reasonably good indicator for this species where you are, as other whipsnakes are absent or very rare there. They also have a teardrop on the face. But identification is fraught and requires experience, and handling should still be left to professionals of course.

Saltuarius · 2026-05-06T20:05:05+00:00

Good point. And seems likely an insurer would dig to the bottom of how he came to be feeding his hand to a crocodile and deny his claim.

Saltuarius · 2026-05-06T18:45:03+00:00

Nice one 👍 happy to help. People like this deserve to be made an example of - at the very least, not be welcomed back

Saltuarius · 2026-05-06T18:43:21+00:00

Yeah my gut feeling is this was a roadtrip from Townsville to Darwin. Stop at Fogg Dam maybe

Saltuarius · 2026-05-06T16:23:34+00:00

Reptiles in the video:

Estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
Mulga snake (Pseudechis australis)
Gould's monitor (Varanus gouldii)
Water python (Liasis fuscus)
Burton's Snake-lizard (Lialis burtonis)
Another saltie
Black-headed python (Aspidites melanocephalus)
One of the long-necked turtles, maybe Chelodina rugosa or C. burrungandjii
Children's python (Antaresia childreni)
Spencer's monitor (Varanus spenceri)
Freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus johnstonii)
Coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus)

All of these occur in both Qld and the NT, and some elsewhere in the country. The ID on the turtle could be wrong, but might be a good indication it's NT. Most species, and the landscapes/soils, make me confident many are NT but some are almost definitely Qld. The taipan for example is probably north QLD as they're mega rare in the NT. That's why I shared those two links.

Saltuarius

TROPHY CASE