Baby blue

Working in the orchard today with the line trimmer cleaning up around the trees and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a wriggling movement and saw a small lizard. Stopped work and checked out the lizard to make sure it hadn't been hit by the line. I was surprised to see that it was a baby Eastern Blue Tongue Lizard Tillqua scinocides. 

 

Adult Eastern Blue Tongue Lizards can grow to 600mm and are the largest of Australian skinks, however this little one was about 130mm which is about their birth length. The female gives birth to live young, with a litter averaging around 10 individuals.

I moved this little one to an area in the rocks around our pool where it would be less likely to get hit by our mower or line trimmer. It was quite feisty showing its tongue and wide open mouth in display, but hard to get a photo as it did not want to stay still when trying to look tough. I did manage to get one photo with the tongue out but blue colour doesn't show very well.

 

Warming up

More warm days and more are coming out to spend time in the sun and the Eastern Blue-tongue Lizard that we found among the rocks last season came out for the first time this season from the same hole so it was obviously a good spot to spend winter.

Then in the afternoon I found a Lace Monitor climbing a tree to get to a branch where it could stretch out in the sun.

 

Morning Sunbake

A warm start to the day brought out a few early sunbathers, the expected Yellow-faced Whip Snakes who have been quite active with mating being a top priority.

 Sharing the same rock area was a young Easern Bluetongue Lizard Tiliqua scinocides, the first that we have seen around the house although they are often sighted sunning on the road and drive.

Bluetongue lizards are one of the most common Australian lizards and one of the largest in the skink family with a range throughout the country. Often found in suburban gardens they are one of the first introductions to nature for children and sometimes kept as pets.