A great egret looks for breakfast at Calamvale Creek

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Scientific stuff

Eastern water skink
Also called a
golden water skink,
Queensland water skink, or water skink

Species:
Eulamprus quoyii
Family: Scincidae
Suborder: Lacertilia
Order: Squamata
Subclass: Lepidosauria
Class: Reptilia

Identification:
Large, very pretty skink with bronze or golden brown back, black on sides with fine white spots. Prominent thin pale gold stripe runs from above eye down to a little past back legs. Long tail and limbs. Pale underparts.

Size:
Adults about
30 centimetres
(12 inches).

Personality:
Good hunter that loves sun and water.

Using our photos

Photos on this website are copyright. If you want to use any, email us at: creeklife@gmail.com

Slink's photos

Slink was basking in the sun on a log at Calamvale Creek when our photographer got the top photo of him at left. But he had seen Slink before.

The photographer said:
“I first saw Slink when I went to a popular dragonfly area to try to take photos of some of the many dragonflies at Calamvale Creek.

“When I got there I noticed a baby water dragon on a rock beside the creek bank.

“Just as I started taking photos of the water dragon, Slink crawled out from under a fern and sat a short distance from the little dragon.

“I got photos of them both over the next 20 minutes.

“Neither of them seemed too concerned about my presence, until I got too close.

“The water dragon was curious, and looked at me as if it was trying to work out what I was and what I was doing. But Slink seemed happy just resting on the rock.

“There have been large numbers of golden water skinks around the creek in recent years, which is good to see, because they have a lot of predators.

“In fact, only a few days before the second photo at left was taken, a tree snake was patrolling the same rocks that many water skinks bask on daily.”

Critters of Calamvale Creek

Slink the eastern water skink

Also called golden water skink, or water skink.

Eulamprus quoyii

Hello water lovers. I'm Slink the eastern water skink, and I have made my home at Calamvale Creek in Brisbane, Australia.

eastern_water_skink_2 (48K)

There are not many different types of reptiles around our creek, but Mrs Slink and I became proud parents of nine babies during summer. So you can see we are doing our best to boost the reptile population around here.

How do I live?

Eulamprus_quoyii_4 (34K)

I like sun and water, so you might find me anywhere around the creek that has rocks or logs near the water.

I shelter around or under rocks and clumps of grass beside the creek, or under fallen logs or overhanging branches. Sometimes I shelter in holes or burrows, but I especially like basking in the sun or in filtered sunlight.

The importance of rocks

Rocks and other basking sites are important to eastern water skinks. There are always more of us in rocky, open creeks than around creeks with a lot of vegetation and fewer rocks for basking.

eastern_water_skink_3 (32K)

One of my favourite basking rocks at Calamvale Creek is also a favourite with the new water dragon babies. In the photo above you can see me (yellow arrow) sharing a rock with one of the young water dragon kids (red arrow).

What do I eat? (And who would eat me?)

Eulamprus_quoyii_5 (14K)I like to eat water beetles and other aquatic insects, small fish, tadpoles, snails, spiders, smaller lizards, and even native fruit.

But I have to be careful of the kookaburras and butcherbirds, who would eat me in an instant if I let them.

Also the tree snakes and turtles around the creek wouldn't mind a piece of me either.

Our living habits

Eastern water skinks give birth to live babies — we don't lay eggs — so we have to teach our young ones to always stay near cover or have an escape route if any of our predators are around.

eastern_water_skink_1 (39K)

We are quite capable in the water, but we have to be careful that if we jump in the water to get away from a kookaburra, we may be jumping into the mouth of a turtle!

One of our defence mechanisms, if we do get attacked, is that we can lose our tail. We let it wriggle, which makes an attacker think it is a lizard or small snake, while we make a run for it to safer ground.

Got to go now!

— Slink the eastern water skink