In Melbourne, the only reptiles I encountered in my pocket handkerchief-sized inner urban garden were marbled geckos. The situation is a bit different here with carpet pythons, green tree snakes, small-eyed snakes, Boyd's forest dragons, spotted tree monitors and any number of skinks. Leaf-tailed geckos too, I expect, but I haven't seen them yet. (I've been at this location for three years and have done field work in the tropics for ...er...a long time, but I still find that modest list quite exciting. I have a fairly low enthusiasm threshold when it comes to fauna. You can tell I'm a zoologist.)
On warm days, the skinks often wander over to the water dish that the birds use as a bath. Lots of insects visit the dish, so I imagine it does double duty as a basking spot and a buffet.
This fellow was unperturbed as I took a few photos. Only when I downloaded them did I see the leech that was hitching a ride and/or looking for a suitable spot for its own meal.
The skink stayed where it was until a whipbird turned up. It obviously didn't want to be an item on someone else's buffet table.
