Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Wildlife on Wednesday ... The Common Green Tree Frog.

I couldn't resist posting this great photo ... two green peas in a pod!  ... and on St. Paddy's Day!  How appropriate!


We get so many green frogs here ... of course they are most commonly seen during the 'wet' season ... but there are some that just hang around our verandah eaves all year long!

These two are sitting right at the top of the verandah wall near the ceiling - I'm guessing it's a very cool spot. There's about six green frogs in various corners of our verandah - all way up high like these two.  These fellows are great climbers but it takes them a while to get up there. When they want to come down they simply turn and let go and there's an almighty thump as they hit the verandah floor!


They are the Common Green Tree-Frog (Litoria caerulea).  It's the most familiar frog in the tropics here.  They're a species of tree frog ... obviously! ... and are around 10 cms long ... what I would call a 'robust' frog!  They're nocturnal ... only coming out at night to hunt.

This frog has a dark olive brown to bright green back, which can change over a period of an hour.  They can actually dull down ...  The sides often have white spots as does the back and their belly is white and granular.

They really love to hide away in places like downpipes, bathroom drainpipes and in the loo!  Yes I've spotted many a Common Green Tree Frog in all of these places!   When they're calling from the downpipes, it's an almighty loud song.

Now there are two audio/video clips coming up:  the first is the very familiar call of our Common Green Tree Frog  .... and in the second clip you'll hear all his friends joining in!!  Just click on the links.

Common Green Tree Frog call ... Crawk, crawk, crawk ...

19 comments:

  1. Ah yes I remember these, Had me up all night once, My wife and I ended up getting up in the dim light trying to move him on his way (with no luck, I must add) Happy St Paddys day from Ireland, Sunny

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  2. I have to say these frogs are adorable! Happy St. Patrick's Day. My cousins in Ireland emailed me last night with wishes. It is really a small world with all of our technology.

    Eileen

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  3. Glad to hear from you Stone Art ... hope you had a grand day too! Yes you're so right about the noise of these beauties ... deafening music to the ears!

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  4. I love tree frogs! You're right though, they can send out a cacophanous noise!

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  5. Hi Eileen ... adorable they may be, but I forgot to mention how messy they are too!!
    Our kids at school were all in green today ... green hair, green clothes, some with green faces! Apparently the green cupcakes with green icing from our tuckshop sold out in no time! It was a great day!

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  6. Kyna ... the noise when they get together can be so overwhelming to the ears after hour upon hour of singing!

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  7. I enjoy frogs, although their symphony can get a bit loud, especially after a rain! Your second photo is of a large fellow.

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  8. Frogs in the loo? Hilarious! I can just imagine the surprise when a house guest lifts the loo lid. We have Pacific Tree Frogs, but they seem much more elusive than your tree frogs, and somewhat less robust and barotone than yours too. I love the last photo with the frog hanging over the gutter, adorable!

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  9. The common green tree frog almost sounds like it is barking. Not at all like I expected. They sure are pretty and I hope they keep all the bugs away. I wouldn't like to find one in my bathroom though.

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  10. What wonderful frog photos, Bernie... all of them! I love you coloured blooms slideshow too. Very nice :-D

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  11. who can dislike a frog? look at their sweet smiling faces! since i was little, frogs, toads, salamander - anything amphibious was my playmate. we didn't have a lot of tree frogs in in the midwest, but we had our share of bullfrogs!

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  12. Hi Bernie; this is a beautiful and informative post about the tree frog. I used to see them around when I lived on the grazing property away from suburbia. Here I see the odd one. I see many of the tiny tree frogs in the garden which makes me happy. Thanks for this great post.

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  13. Kimberly ... yes these frogs are only a little smaller than my hand ... they're rather large lumps!

    Curbstone ... yes I've found these gorgeous critters in the loo! My granddaughter got such a shock when she made her first discovery of a frog in the loo ... that sort of thing doesn't happen too often in the big city!

    Tina ... yes they're pretty good at catching insects ... so I guess they do have some value. It's the mess they leave on my verandah that prevents me from being a big fan of these beauties!

    Shirl ... thanks for dropping by and I'm glad you liked the frog photos! Thanks also for checking out my Colours In The Garden slideshow ... It's a bit fast, as I haven't quite figured out how to slow the speed.

    Roundrockgarden ... me ... me ... I can dislike frogs. They make too much mess!!!! and they pop up in the most unexpected places sometimes!

    Hi Titania ... when I was a child those little tiny tree frogs were everywhere around our yard ... and they lived in our downstairs loo! I should be used to frogs in the toilet ... but I'm not!

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  14. I love your critters, Bernie;-) Thanks for the info and sharing their sounds, as well. Lovely little creatures they are.

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  15. Aww, they're so cute! It seems strange that we are just having spring and it is autumn there! Is autumn your main growing season? I noticed your greenhouse full of plants in an earlier post.
    Nice blog!

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  16. I can't imagine raining frogs - "When they want to come down they simply turn and let go and there's an almighty thump" Yikes! Love your St. Patrick's Day amphibians. Thanks for your picks on Blotanical, I'm enjoying finding your blogs.

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  17. They have such a satisfied, smiley expression on their froggy faces.

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  18. Connie ... yes, Autumn here is the beginning of our best growing time. End of Autumn through the Winter is our optimum growing time ... a bit like your spring! Spring here is a signal that the horrid summer will soon be upon us ... summer is the worst time of the year for the garden.

    All very different to most parts of the northern hemisphere ... and I have to say for some part of Oz too.

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  19. Laurie ... we hear those loud PLOPS! every night during our summer and autumn. I haven't as yet had too many frogs land on me ... but have had many, many near misses!!

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