{"id":133,"date":"2012-09-20T11:07:46","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T01:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/?p=133"},"modified":"2012-12-24T11:10:31","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T01:10:31","slug":"frogs-freezing-feet-and-a-leech-off-my-foot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/frogs-freezing-feet-and-a-leech-off-my-foot\/","title":{"rendered":"Frogs, freezing feet and a leech off my foot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sounds like I\u2019m complaining, doesn\u2019t it? Not at all! These were all the hallmarks of a night frogging in Conondale National Park! \ud83d\ude00 (Now you\u2019re all jealous).<\/p>\n

After arriving outside of the Maleny Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service office I was driven out to Conondale Nat. Park by Rowena Thomas from QPWS where we were to begin frog monitoring for the season. We were also accompanied by rangers\u2019 Mike and Lesley. I\u2019ve only been out there once or twice during the day to the day site so have never done any serious exploring through the park, so I was very much looking forward to what we\u2019d find at night in a place known for it\u2019s great frog residence.<\/p>\n

Once at the first site I got just a few photos of Litoria pearsoniana<\/i> (Cascade treefrog) with Mum\u2019s DSLR, since I wasn\u2019t allowed to take it with me along the middle of the creek \ud83d\ude1b Hence, some of these photos were taken on my little Sony digital camera. The monitoring required us to get wet, though only up to our knees (thank-goodness for that as the water temperature was 14\u00b0C, though it felt much colder!). We spotted and heard many dozen L. pearsoniana<\/i> but surprisingly (and disappointingly) no Mixophyes iteratus<\/i> (Giant Barred-frogs), as they are usually found on the banks there. There were several new feral pig \u2018digs\u2019, the silt from which had muckied up the creek.<\/p>\n

\"Litoria
Litoria pearsoniana<\/i> (Cascade treefrog)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now behold, the photo below was taken in the place where one of the gastric brooding frog species Reobatrachus silus<\/i> (Southern Platypus-frog AKA Southern Gastric-brooding frog) was last observed at. This species is name so because of it\u2019s unique ability to raise it\u2019s young in it\u2019s stomach, and because of it\u2019s wholly aquatic dwelling. It\u2019s thought that the lethal Chytridiomycosis fungus was responsible for their demise, though there is some optimism that some of these frogs may remain somewhere within the park. Taudactylus diurnus<\/i> (Southern Dayfrog) is the other species in this area which is also thought to have disappeared because of the fungus.<\/p>\n

\"rocks\"
Habitat of where Rheobatruchus silus<\/i> (Southern Platypus-frog) and Taudactylus diurnus<\/i> (Southern Dayfrog) were once found. (Sorry about lighting).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After finishing searching the transect, we travelled to the other monitoring site in the un-logged part of the park (all logging in the park has ceased, but the first site was regrowth from past logging). Here we heard L. pearsoniana<\/i>\u2018s again but also Assa darlingtoni<\/i> (Australian Marsupial frog), so named because of the pouches it has on it\u2019s hips where the tadpoles are carried in. Unfortunately I couldn\u2019t record the call, but managed to pick up L. pearsoniana<\/i>.<\/p>\n

At the top end of this site, above a waterfall we found two beautiful Litoria chloris<\/i> (Southern orange-eyed treefrogs), and more L. pearsonianas<\/i>. Mixophyes iteratus<\/i> was absent here too, which could be because of the cooler temperature during the night. Mike did hear the call of a species I haven\u2019t heard (or seen in real-life) though, Mixophyes fleayi<\/i> (Fleay\u2019s Barred-frog). Eventually we heard it (see the recording in the Gallery on the main site), so that was cool, though we couldn\u2019t find the thing!<\/p>\n

\"Litoria
Litoria chloris<\/i> (Southern orange-eyed treefrog)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Litoria

Litoria chloris<\/i> (Southern orange-eyed treefrog)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Litoria
Litoria pearsoniana<\/i> (Cascade treefrog)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On our way travelling out of the national park, I wanted to stop by a creek crossing where earlier we\u2019d seen frogs crossing in. To my dismay, they\u2019d gone, but a crossing or two later, they were everywhere! And by \u2018they\u2019 I\u2019m referring to Litoria wilcoxii<\/i> (Stony-creek frogs). I got out, grabbed the DSLR and was in my realm! There were easily hundreds of males, all shaded yellow, looking for a female. Below is a sample of what was there.<\/p>\n

\"Litoria
Litoria wilcoxii<\/i> (Stony-creek frog)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Litoria
Litoria wilcoxii<\/i> (Stony-creek frogs) in amplexus. Things were pretty busy here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Litoria
Litoria wilcoxii<\/i> (Stony-creek frogs). I just took this shot to capture what I thought were about three in an area of only a metre or so square. See how many you can count.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once I returned home, I discovered I had a stain I was not familiar with on my sock. Closer inspection revealed it was blood \u2013 fresh, out of my ankle. The perpetrator had disappeared. I\u2019ll spare you the image.<\/p>\n

So, overall, a great night in the Conondales and I\u2019m very grateful to Rowena for having me along! Now to do it all again tonight (somewhere else!).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sounds like I\u2019m complaining, doesn\u2019t it? Not at all! These were all the hallmarks of a night frogging in Conondale[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134,"href":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/froggingaround.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}