Nephrurus
Very Well-Known Member
Last saturday night I did the exact opposite of normal folk, I headed away from population centres and went herping. I'd been planning to do this for a few days, and although the day started well (hot and fairly humid) it suddenly got cold as a cool change moved through. Due to the cool temps, we weren't holding out much hope for many herps, so we took spotlights with us to try for some mammals.
Fear gripped me when we got out of the car.... my breath condensed in the air... not a great sign if you want to find herps. it was at this point my ears pricked up and a wave of relief hit me. The sound of frogcall filled the air. Litoria verreauxii, Limnodynastes peroni and Crinia signifera we calling from a nearby dam on private property.
From that point on it was clear that tonight belonged to the Amphibians.
The first frog we turned up was the fairly common Litoria peroni or perons tree frog. Looks fairly similar to Litoria tyleri but calls differ. This one was stone cold, sitting in the middle of the track.
as we neared a rocky stream bed, we could hear Psuedophryne australis , the red crowned froglet calling from nearby heath next to a drainage line. It was too thick and destructive to go after an endangered species, so we continued on out way.
Upon reaching the creeck bed, we spotted several frogs sitting on flat rocks in the middle of the stream... They turned out to be Lesueurs frogs Litoria lesueurii. These were all males, clearly in bright yellow breeding colour.
Calling from just near the Lesueurs frogs was another impressive species. The unmistakable "plonk" of a banjo frog Limnodynastes dumeriliigave away an adult males position. They call from the very edge of the bank, often from underneath vegetation or an undercut stream bank.
Calling in the same area was a newly descibed species. Litoria nudidigita[/I is almost identical to Litoria phyllochroa in every way, differing only by the call. We found more of this species furthur downstream on fallen logs over water.
Arguably one of the most spectacular frog species in the Sydney region, the Blue Mountains Tree Frog Litoria citropawas a source of alot of excitement as the two herpers with me had never seen them before. We found quite a few, and several males were calling (if you haven't heard their call, track down a recording, it's awesome). Here are a few pics (they are my favourite, so i'm posting four pics instead of two).
Note the bright pink-orange leg markings, fairly unique amongst the tree frogs.
Oh, and we also found a leaf tail gecko Phyllurus platurus.
If there were any major errors, please correct me! No, I'm not telling you where i went...
Don't steal my photos either!
All the best,
-H
Fear gripped me when we got out of the car.... my breath condensed in the air... not a great sign if you want to find herps. it was at this point my ears pricked up and a wave of relief hit me. The sound of frogcall filled the air. Litoria verreauxii, Limnodynastes peroni and Crinia signifera we calling from a nearby dam on private property.
From that point on it was clear that tonight belonged to the Amphibians.
The first frog we turned up was the fairly common Litoria peroni or perons tree frog. Looks fairly similar to Litoria tyleri but calls differ. This one was stone cold, sitting in the middle of the track.
as we neared a rocky stream bed, we could hear Psuedophryne australis , the red crowned froglet calling from nearby heath next to a drainage line. It was too thick and destructive to go after an endangered species, so we continued on out way.
Upon reaching the creeck bed, we spotted several frogs sitting on flat rocks in the middle of the stream... They turned out to be Lesueurs frogs Litoria lesueurii. These were all males, clearly in bright yellow breeding colour.
Calling from just near the Lesueurs frogs was another impressive species. The unmistakable "plonk" of a banjo frog Limnodynastes dumeriliigave away an adult males position. They call from the very edge of the bank, often from underneath vegetation or an undercut stream bank.
Calling in the same area was a newly descibed species. Litoria nudidigita[/I is almost identical to Litoria phyllochroa in every way, differing only by the call. We found more of this species furthur downstream on fallen logs over water.
Arguably one of the most spectacular frog species in the Sydney region, the Blue Mountains Tree Frog Litoria citropawas a source of alot of excitement as the two herpers with me had never seen them before. We found quite a few, and several males were calling (if you haven't heard their call, track down a recording, it's awesome). Here are a few pics (they are my favourite, so i'm posting four pics instead of two).
Note the bright pink-orange leg markings, fairly unique amongst the tree frogs.
Oh, and we also found a leaf tail gecko Phyllurus platurus.
If there were any major errors, please correct me! No, I'm not telling you where i went...
Don't steal my photos either!
All the best,
-H
