This sleek and agile snake put in an appearance on a fence just along one of the walking paths through the Australia Zoo. A zoo gardener spotted it first, and asked us curious onlookers to maintain a respectful distance until he could fetch a reptile keeper to verify the gardener's tentative identification. The gardener had gotten it right, and since this is a harmless species, I was then allowed to sneak in a little closer for better photos of this wild snake.

Here is a complete list of the reptiles and frogs I saw on this trip to Australia.

My sister spotted this snake as we drove slowly along Fogg Dam early in the morning. It was basking on a pylon for an observation deck overlooking the reservoir formed by the dam. I tried to sneak up on it to get a closeup photo, but it saw me coming from quite a distance and took a flying leap into the water about six feet below.

I’ve written up an account of this three-week trip to Australia here.

I saw this snake near the side of the road at night, along with another of similar size. The other snake was quite dead. It seems likely that a car had tragically interrupted some snake romance.

When it saw me approach with my camera, the snake raced along the edge of the road and I ran along side it, barely managing to keep up. It ended up in a tree but didn’t stop moving quickly even then.

We noticed this gorgeous snake first because it was being repeatedly dive-bombed by a small bird, and second because it was bright yellow on the otherwise-brown forest floor. I suspect the snake was getting too close to the bird’s nest for the bird’s comfort.