Thursday was forecast to reach 26°C, and today (Friday) expected to reach 29°C, so of course I wasn’t going to let the opportunity to go frogging go amiss! So I contacted a friend for permission onto their property in the back of Woombye, who’s property includes a decent sized lake. As I’m travelling their I hear Litoria fallax (Eastern Sedgefrogs) by the hundreds, but of course, once I arrive there’s hardly a croak, except for a couple of Adelotus brevis (Tusked frog). However, in the distance were the laughs (calls) of L. peronii and L. tylerii (Emerald-spotted treefrogs and laughing treefrogs). Of course, they weren’t calling from the property I had access to! Anyway, I searched around but didn’t find much, apart from two Rhinella marina (Cane toads) and a small mammal (who disappeared before I could get a better look at). A few hundred metres up the road though, I could hear at least 5 species made up of those I’d already heard as well as Limnodynastes peronii (Striped-marsh frog) and a species I hadn’t heard in the ‘wild’ yet, Litoria nasuta (Striped rocket-frog)!
After giving up on trying to access these guys, I drove into Palmwoods, keeping an ear out for frog calls. I thought I’d give Palmwoods duck pond a try (cause that’s one place I can access!). I wasn’t disappointed with what I heard there (laughing treefrogs and eastern sedge-frogs), but couldn’t get to them as they were calling from over-hanging vegetation over the pond (or lake). There was a cane toad I found relaxing in the shallows, so I had to take a photo of something!
skin moist and to allow oxygen exchange between water and skin
Once leaving there, I tried finding a lake I knew existed in amongst a relatively new housing estate towards the back of Palmwoods, but got lost in amongst the maze and outed as soon as I found the main road 😛 (though amongst the sardined housed were conglomerations of calling eastern sedge-frogs, making quite a racket (not that I minded). Still disappointed, I thought I’d try a last-ditch attempt to find and photograph some frogs I’d previously heard (two weeks ago) right out the back of Palmwoods.
I drove along the dusty dirt road, right to the end where the laughing treefrogs were calling last time, and indeed were there again…on private property. With a sigh, I did a three-point turn and was heading back down the road, but stopped just past the above mentioned property as I’d heard frogs calling closer to the road. I got out, leaving the head-lights on and found a small dam, surrounded by dense vegetation but home to at least 5 frog species I could hear (which was an effort over the hundreds of eastern sedgefrogs calling at once). I recorded some more calls, and was about to head back to the car when I spotted a small cleared path on one side of the dam. Bargain! (as this post title suggests). It allowed me to get right beside the water where I found two emerald spotted treefrogs! Smile for the camera (I sure was!). So below are two of the few photos I managed to take.
Frog calls from back of Palmwoods (Seeings there’s more words than photos I thought I should include something else).
All these photos were taken on my little Sony digital camera, though I hope to be using a Sony DSLR soon (not mine though…). I hope to go out there again tonight 🙂