Frogging Around my Property with Jono

Last Friday night Jono from Frogging Around http://froggingaround.com/blog/ came over to my place to have a look around at the species of frogs that I get on my property. It was a windy day and evening and it was cooler so this did effect the numbers of frogs that we saw. Many of the species for this time of year were out but in much lower numbers. As it gets wetter on the property the other species will turn up again.

Jono arrived just after 6 p.m. and we started looking down near the main dam near the house. We found a few Wilcox's Frogs straight away. We saw another male Wilcox's Frog trying to mate with a cane toad, which is becoming a regular sight here now and I saw one in a tree for the first time ever. I have only seen them on the ground prior to this at any location. All around the dam and creeks we could hear Eastern Dwarf Tree Frogs as well. There were quite a few but not near the number as the past few weeks due to the cooler night.

Wilcox's Frog in a tree

While we were making our way around the dam we could hear and see two Peron's Tree Frogs calling out as well. They were not in very good spots to try and get photos so we kept moving on to the next part of the property. Making our way through one of the dry creek beds we spotted many Striped Marsh Frogs, all of which were small, young frogs, most likely from last season. We also sighted a couple of Eastern Dwarf Tree Frogs.

Next we went up to near the house to spot another species which is regular most of the year round, the Green Tree Frogs that live around the verandas. We spotted one of the regulars. Next we went to the tanks where the Red Tree Frogs and Keferstein's Tree Frog live during the cooler months. We spotted only three tonight. They are so similar in appearance on the property that I have trouble identifying them unless they are calling, and the fact they live together and breed in the same place makes it even more difficult. After some discussions with a few frog experts, most of them agreed that they are more likely to be Red Tree Frogs.

Red Tree Frog

Next we made our way down to the rainforest section of the property to where the Great Barred Frogs and Tusked Frogs live. I was hopeful that we may see a Great Barred Frog as I heard the first one of the season calling only the night before. That in itself was surprising as I normally don't hear them here until after the creeks start to flow again in this area. Unfortunately we didn't see any but we did hear several Tusked Frogs in the area.

In the front paddocks I didn't think we would see much except for Striped Marsh Frogs which we did see many of, most of which were small also. We also sighted a first for my blog from my property. I have seen them on the property a few years ago but I hadn't photographed them. I had only seen two or three back then but tonight we saw about ten in total with little effort. With this species of the Spotted Marsh Frog now added to the list, that takes the total number of frogs photographed for the blog on my property to 18 this year, but the number of species seen on the property still stays at 26 as they are one species that has been identified.

All of the Spotted Marsh Frogs were small in size too. The first four or so that we saw looked like the first two photos. The others that were seen looked liked the last photos. I'm unsure of why there is a big difference in colour and skin texture, considering they were all found within the same general area and they were all about the same size. The frog experts that I consulted suggest that most likely they are all Spotted Marsh Frogs, as they can be highly variable in colour etc, within the same area.

One colour of the Spotted Marsh Frogs located

A different angle of the same Spotted Marsh Frog from above

This is the other colouring that the Spotted Marsh Frogs had, which is the colouring that I saw on them a few years ago on the property and have seen elsewhere.

Spotted Marsh Frog

The same Spotted Marsh Frog from above

A different angle of the same Spotted Marsh Frog from above

As we were making our way back to the house this fully grown Striped Marsh Frog jumped out in front of us. We saw heaps of them but only a few were fully grown.

One of the few large Striped Marsh Frogs sighted

Just before we went up the track to the house we heard some rustling in the grass. My first thought was a bandicoot, but after hearing it move again I knew it was an echidna. They can be regularly seen in this spot when the property isn't in flood. A nice find to finish off the night.

An echidna

Even though the quanity of frogs wasn't there compared to normal on my place we still saw relatively large numbers of some species and we did hear or see 8 different frog species for the night. Not too bad for this time of the year. A few minutes after Jono left a Dainty Tree Frog called out right near where his car was parked and about an hour later I heard the Great Barred Frog calling out again. I wished this happened while he was here as then it would have taken the number of species he saw or heard to 10 for the night on my property.

A good night frogging and good to finally meet Jono, another frog enthusiast from the coast.

More pics and updates when more frogs are photographed and recorded.