Lazy Lizards

Eastern Bearded Dragon

2007 Australian Capital Territory trip report

During our wanderings of the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra we saw many species of Australian plants in flower. I also observed a nice range of birds that inhabit the gardens.

Eastern Bearded Dragon

What I didn’t expect to see were reptiles, which is a little silly because there must be a very large population of geckos, skinks, lizards and even snakes. The gardens are an ideal habitat for reptiles, with plenty of dense shrubby undergrowth vegetation for them to hide. Around lunch time the sun was becoming quite warm and the lizards came out for a laze in the warmth.

We are quite familiar with the Bearded Dragons which are resident in our own garden in Murray Bridge. This was the first time I can recall ever seeing a Gippsland Water Dragon (shown below). This individual was sunning itself on a large boulder just above a large rock pool featured in one part of the garden.

Gippsland Water Dragon

Links:

• Australian National Botanic Gardens
• Water dragons in the gardens
• Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the Botanic Gardens