Splash! I quickly turn knowing that I have just missed my chance of seeing a water dragon. These little reptiles generally don’t stick around, especially when I have Bundy with me but I got lucky walking around a local wildlife reserve one afternoon. The lake in the reserve has been on the receiving end of a lot of regeneration activity in the past 12-18 months with native trees and grasses being planted all around the foreshore. Piles of branches stacked around tree stumps are yet to be cleared away and these make great little hiding holes for all sorts of creatures. Wary of snakes I steered clear of one pile and kept Bundy close as I inched towards the water’s edge in order to photograph the pelicans on the lake. It wasn’t until I looked away from the pelicans that I noticed a lizard sitting on the pile of wood, an Easter Water Dragon to be precise.
Easter Water Dragons can be found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. They can live for up to twenty years and will eat insects, small reptiles and frogs as well as fruit and other vegetation. Some people keep them as pets but I think you need a permit to do so and I would much rather see them in their natural habitat. Occasionally I see them lying on the side of the road, it is nice and warm for them and they will scamper off when they see you coming however they’re not always that lucky at escaping traffic.
The water dragon barely moved, his eyes watching every step Bundy and I took. I was grateful to have my camera and 70-200mm lens with me rather than my phone, allowing me to get close-up photos without disturbing him too much. You might be wondering why I’m referring to the water dragon as a male, if you look closely at the photo you can see that the water dragon has a reddish chest, apparently the chest of a male water dragon goes bright red during mating season so I’m thinking that this boy is on the prowl. After mating the female lays up to 25 eggs in the soft soil or sand and then she does a runner, playing no part in the parenting. Thankfully the kids are independent once they hatch, I just hope they stay off the road.
Two Black Dogs 
Could you please help me find email contacts for the descendants of Te Hau Wharepapa. I have been going through your wordpress and reading the comments and I am not have any success to send emails to any of the email address that they have posted. Do you know or have any further information that could help me please. Thank you.
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*Shalom * *Patsy *
On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 7:47 PM, Two Black Dogs wrote:
> Two Black Dogs posted: “Splash! I quickly turn knowing that I have just > missed my chance of seeing a water dragon. These little reptiles generally > don’t stick around, especially when I have Bundy with me but I got lucky > walking around a local wildlife reserve one afternoon. The ” >
Great pictures Sam – you are very observant to have seen a real dragon!
Thanks Meg, and such a fearsome dragon at that 😉
Can’t believe I’m saying this but he’s kind of cute! 🙂
I agree! Not sure what it is but I love seeing them around 🙂