During my recent work trip to Sydney, I caught up with fellow frogger, Aaron, who knows his local frog spots well. There were two species I was particularly keen to see; the Red-crowned Broodfrog (Pseudophryne australis) and the Eastern Gungan (Uperoleia laevigata). The former occurs within Hawkesbury Sandstone geology of the Sydney Basin Bioregion, and is listed as Vulnerable due to fragmentation of habitat from urban development, whilst the latter occurs in NSW and drier parts of QLD. Neither had I seen before.
We headed to a dry gully within a nearby national park for the Red-crowned Broodfrog. There was no water present, however the earth was still damp. We heard the odd adult Red-crowned calling, but it was the juveniles we quickly found. There were dozens of the little frogs and despite their age, the ‘red crown’ marking on the head of the frog was very prominent.
After narrowing in on adult’s calls, we soon found a couple of males.
Quite impressed with the beauty of these frogs, we then turned our focus to the Eastern Gungan, which we found at a new site of Aaron’s. These frogs were calling by a drying pond.
Thanks again Aaron for sharing your local frog knowledge and spots, and I look forward to the next NSW trip and meeting more local frog species.