Reptile Kingdom
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The reptile.
It is only the hardest of the hardy that can survive in the Australian outback.
This is one of those outback survivors.
Australia.
Naples Botanical Gardens
Naples, Florida
USA
The great egret (Ardea alba), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret, with four subspecies found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and southern Europe. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, it builds tree nests in colonies close to water.
The great egret is generally a very successful species with a large and expanding range, occurring worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. It is ubiquitous across the Sun Belt of the United States and in the Neotropics. In North America, large numbers of great egrets were killed around the end of the 19th century so that their plumes could be used to decorate hats. Numbers have since recovered as a result of conservation measures.
Its range has expanded as far north as southern Canada. However, in some parts of the southern United States, its numbers have declined due to habitat loss, particularly wetland degradation through drainage, grazing, clearing, burning, increased salinity, groundwater extraction and invasion by exotic plants.
Nevertheless, the species adapts well to human habitation and can be readily seen near wetlands and bodies of water in urban and suburban areas.
The great egret is partially migratory, with northern hemisphere birds moving south from areas with colder winters. It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
The great egret feeds in shallow water or drier habitats, feeding mainly on fish, frogs, small mammals, and occasionally small reptiles and insects, spearing them with its long, sharp bill most of the time by standing still and allowing the prey to come within its striking distance of its bill, which it uses as a spear. It often waits motionless for prey, or slowly stalks its victim. Wikipedia
This female brown anole, backlit by the morning sun, takes the frequently preferred head down position from a vantage point above my garden while she surveys her territory for rivals, mates, and meals. I like that brown anoles are aggressive insectivores in my garden, but they also ferociously compete with and have displaced other niche denizens including green anoles, day geckos, and skinks. Brown anole (Anolis sagrei) native to Cuba.
This one foot long blue tongue lizard was wandering our streets in the middle of the roadway, so I gently nudged it in the direction of some safer garden areas, but it came straight back out onto the pathway again. I wasn't really very close taking this - minimum focus distance is 20 feet, but I got as low as I could for the shot. I made sure it moved back to safety again.
Agama Lizard posing on coastal rocks
In Cyprus. Excessive heat, haze and wildfires put an end to bird photography so had to make do with these stunners near the hotel.
Allow me to introduce you to Barrett (named after Barrett Creek in the Daintree). He is a big Alpha male at least 4.5 m long and somewhere around 50 years old. If you look closely, you will see that Barrett is missing the end of his tail so is longer than the estimated length.
Crocodiles are solitary animals and they don’t have friends. There are two alpha males in this stretch of the Daintree, Barrett and Lumpy. Lumpy caught a cow for dinner. He left it submerged in the river. Crocodiles clamp down on prey with their massive jaws, crush it and then swallow the prey whole. They cannot chew or break off pieces. So when they take a large animal that can’t swallow whole, they leave it submerged to rot and break down.
However, Barrett decided he couldn't resist a free meal he didn’t have to work. So, he stole the cow while Lumpy wasn’t attending his catch and took it down the river. A crocodile’s sense of smell is extremely well developed and they can smell rotting carcasses from a great distance. Lumpy, as angry as a crocodile can be, went looking for Barrett to retrieve his kill.
He found the culprit.
A fight ensured.
Lumpy got his cow back and Barrett lost the end of his tail.
Juvenile Pink-Tongued Skink
Cyclodomorphus gerrardii
are born with a blue tongue which usually turns pink as they mature.
Valla Beach, NSW
Ce que les gens veulent dire par "les oiseaux sont des reptiles" est que les oiseaux sont plus proches des reptiles que d'un autre groupe. Ce qui est vrai dans un sens, mais quel genre de reptiles ? Ils seraient plus proches du crocodile. Selon certains sites de biologie...
Usually what people mean when they say "birds are reptiles" is that birds are more closely related to reptiles than anything else, and this is true in a way, but there are many types of reptiles. Birds are most closely related to crocodiles. According to ertain biology sites...
Slipping under a fence this snake was making its way to an old, disused school building out in the Brigalow Belt. It was a challenge trying to frame the python without getting the horizontal planks of wood fencing or the stumps of the building in frame. Shallowing out the depth of field threw up some interesting optics as a result. At the end of the day though…. its all about that flickering tongue #letsbereal
The Freshwater Crocodile, also known as the Australian Freshwater Crocodile, Johnstone's Crocodile or colloquially as "Freshie", is a species of crocodile endemic to the northern regions of Australia. These are young captive-bred crocodiles in a display tank.
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