It was the evening of my sister’s Year 12 Formal. We’d been to see the stretched Ford Territory (AKA limousine) at the Maroochy Botanic Gardens (must go frogging there sometime) which was her and her friends’ ride for the evening.
Whilst she and my parents were off ‘formalling’, I spent the evening at my Grandparents with my younger sister. I was keen to visit the Litoria caerulea (Green treefrog) residents who spend the day inside blocks encasing my Grandma’s greenhouse.
I returned after dark and found three of them out and about. I only had my small Sony digital camera since Mum was using here (better) Sony DSLR that I usually take frogging. Sometimes (rarely might be the better word), my camera does manage to capture the true colour of these frogs, like this time…
Though this one didn’t quite turn out as green. Never the less they’re all still beautiful frogs!
Then just last night I brought Connor along, who has previously accompanied me frogging. It was a very warm and humid day, at least 32°C so I thought I’d try our luck looking for frogs, even though the complete combination of warmth and recent rainfall was missing. We headed to an area of forest beside the Caloundra turn-off (the name of which I cannot find) as I’d been told Mixophyes iteratus (Giant Barred frogs) have been found here. I hadn’t set my hopes too high though. Anyway, the walks we fairly short and the Mooloolah River which runs on the out-skirts was pretty still. You could see how ferocious the floods had been through the area with large sections of bank cut out and flood debris remaining above our heads in trees.
I strayed from the path a bit and spotted something shiny in the distance. As I aproached I realised I had found some sort of amphibian, but more specifically a barred frog. A few photos later revealed it was indeed a Giant Barred frog! I was over the moon! I’ll let these photos do the talking now.
A little later on we came across another of the same genus, M. fasciolatus (Great Barred frog). That was pretty cool too!
We also came across (and accidentally kicked) Rhinella marina (Cane toads). They were all quite large, but we only encountered about five.
After leaving there, we travelled to some paddocks owned by my neighbour (the same paddocks I’d been to last Sunday night during the rain but didn’t find any frogs). The night was still warm at 10pm (lovely) and we encountered lots of cane toads (some calling) and two Limnodynastes peronii (Striped marsh-frogs) beside a small dam, but nothing else. We tried getting down to the creek running to the side of the paddocks, but dense vegetation and steep banks were prohibiting factors. The government has been there several times over the last 18 months carrying out frog surveys which make me rather interested as to why…
Anyway, until next time, happy frogging!