Saturday, July 13, 2013

Pearson's Green Tree Frog at Charlie Moreland

Last night a friend and I went out to the Charlie Moreland Campground, which is a few kilometres south of Kenilworth, to do some bird watching. We walked down to the edge of Little Yabba Creek. When we arrived we heard many frogs calling out. Most of them sounded very familiar, so we didn't look around for them. I am sure they were Copper-backed Toadlets. Directly below us though I heard another frog call, that I have not heard before. In the general area we could hear at least 5 males calling out.

I got several good photos of the frog and managed to get a recording of his call as well. He wasn't very active until the other frogs began to call out in the area again and then he started to move around a lot more and even jump around. We did notice that the frog changed in colour significantly from the time we arrived to the time we left. When we first spotted the frog it was very bright and the pattern on its back was very obvious. After a few minutes it had turned very dark in colour, which made the pattern on its back harder to distinguish.


This frog is called Pearson's Green Tree Frog. Thanks to the people that helped me identify this frog correctly. I did not consider this to be the frog at first as it is not generally this colour. It is generally green in colour, hence the name. The frog also goes by the names Cascade Tree Frog and Mountain Stream Frog.


Pearson's Green Tree Frog from the right side
 

Pearson's Green Tree Frog from the left side
 

Also called the Cascade Tree Frog
 

The same Pearson's Green Tree Frog from above
 

A Pearson's Green Tree Frog partially submerged in the water
 

Another Pearson's Green Tree Frog
 


Another Pearson's Green Tree Frog sitting in very shallow water
 


Also called the Mountain Stream Frog
  
 
This is the recording of the Pearson's Green Tree Frog calling out at Little Yabba Creek just above the fast flowing water.
 
 
 
 
More pics and updates when more frogs are photographed and recorded.

4 comments:

  1. Ashley, your frog is Litoria pearsoniana - Pearson's Tree-frog, a rainforest stream specialty... nice pics and recording. Greg

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  2. Thanks Greg. Another guy just gave me the same suggestion too. Thanks for the help with the identification. I would not have thought of this frog as I have never seen them this colour in books or on the Internet before.

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  3. Yes colour can be deceptive with frogs, especially Litoria, as they can change in some species, especially from greenish to brownish as in your frog here

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  4. Great to see you doing this stuff. Back in the 1970s (!) myself and a couple of friends (Chris Corben & Glen Ingram among them) were seriously into frogging. We discovered the breeding biology of Rheobatrachus and saw the last ones in the wild (1977. These guys discovered and described several new frog species such as Mixophyes fleayi

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