We have a stony creek bed at the bottom of the hillside here, and so the Litoria wilcoxi is a common sight around our property. They can vary in colour, from grey to brown. They have a dark stripe that runs from their snout to the eye, and then along the side of their body to the base of their front leg.
Now whilst they certainly are rather cute, I absolutely hate it when they get inside the house! Why? Well, they haven't earned our little nickname ... the Olympic Jumpers ... for nothing! These lovely little things are spectacular jumpers! I mean ... they can literally jump metres in one bound ... and that makes them hard to catch. Consequently we end up, sometimes, with little corpses inside our house! Gross, I know!
It also means they are hard to capture with a camera unless they're sleeping ....
... awww, isn't she adorable! This is a sleeping female Litoria wilcoxi. The females are longer in length than the males, almost double the size in fact! The males make up for their lack of size though ... with their flair. When the males are ready to mate, they turn a bright lemon yellow! Talk about flashy!
Thankfully though, these particular frogs do have one saving grace. They don't have a vocal sac and as a result, their call is a beautiful soft series of trills which can only only be heard within a few metres of the frog.
Their lovely call is in stark contrast however, to the usual early 'wet' season racket we hear around here at night! Now I can't tell you all the varieties that are singing on this clip, but this is the lullaby we hear, right now, as we're dropping off to sleep! (Note: you will need to scroll down the sidebar on the right, find the Playlist and turn it off before you watch the clip.)
For another great Wildlife on Wednesday post, that just also happens to be featuring a frog, please go on over to visit Lotusleaf at Garden Tropics
Bernie, your frog is so beautiful, and your post is full of information. Thanks for mentioning my blog in your post. I have noticed that many times we both post the same things! Please start a wildlife Wednesday meme- I'll contribute pictures and articles.
ReplyDeleteIsn't he a handsome fellow. Wishing you a Merry Christmas!!! Cathy
ReplyDeleteQuite the character! L
ReplyDeleteShe is lovely ....when she sleeps. I don't like frogs, too much jumping for me!!!! Not too sure on natures lullaby but is a big improvement on the cicadas.
ReplyDeletePretty cute. :)
ReplyDeleteThe frogs are so welcome in my garden, and funny enough one gets used to their lullaby! We have one that plays tennis, it sounds like when the ball hits the racket, it goes on and on and on... I think it is a sort of a rocket frog. The stony creek frog looks beautiful. I saw once in my garden a Corroboree frog, black and yellow. They are generally not at home in the subtropics. I do not know where it cam from. It was spectacular, have never seen one again.
ReplyDeleteBernieh, wat a lovely story and such good pictures. I also am frog mad ( except for the cane toad ). They sure are a sign of a healthy environment.
ReplyDeleteWow, you are doing well with that background music, though the little frogs make a lot more noise than that, lol. Seeyah, M.
Hi Bernie, these frog sounds can only be described as thrilling! I do love garden sounds, and having frogs must be so wonderful. As I type I'm listening to cicadas. Anything natural is appreciated here,but all too often it's traffic that we hear. Happy christmas, new year, cheers, catmint
ReplyDeleteThe orange-thighed green tree frogs are calling from the shrubs as I type this. They're loud enough to hear over the rain. And what rain!
ReplyDeleteWe get a different species of stoney creek frog here --- the (relatively) recently described Litoria jungguy. Looks the same to me. And they are prodigious jumpers!
Merry Christmas. Hope you have a good one!