Pickerel Frog - Finally!
Lithobates palustris

 

FINALLY......I recorded a Pickerel Frog calling!!!

The Pickerel Frog (Lithobates palustris) is not a rare frog.  It is quite common and widespread across the eastern United States.   Unfortunately, it is not common nor widespread in Texas and in spite of decades of looking for them, I have never seen or heard one.

So, as is a long-standing tradition for me, I made the long drive into the forests of East Texas during the spring of 2024 to see if I could find one of these little "snorers".    Unfortunately, although we had had warmer than average weather in the preceding week and some rain had fallen, the night I arrived at the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge it was cooler than usual.   We drove around listening and recording Spring Peepers and Cajun Chorus Frogs hoping to hear something else.  But by 9pm, the temperature had dropped into the low 50s and that usually puts a damper on frogs calling in Texas on dry nights.

Right before we were headed back to the hotel, we stopped at one last flooded roadside forested area.   This spot was right next to the road and train tracks so it was full of trash and plastic bottles - hardly a pristine vernal pool.

I recorded some Spring Peepers and some Southern Leopard Frogs when suddenly, I heard a long snore just a few feet away into the forest.


My first Pickerel Frog call!

Pickerel Frog!!!!!   After years of standing in the cold on spring nights, I finally found one!

The call of the Pickerel Frog is maybe best described as a long snore, although there is a percussive component to the spectrogram that you don't see in the "buzzy snores" of the Spadefoots.

Here's one of this frog's "snores" -

Unfortunately, we were tired and wet, and there was a barbed wire fence keeping us from getting over to see the frog, so I substituted a captive photo from decades ago.  I guess because we were so tired (it was a 6 hour drive to get there, and we had been listening to frogs in the cold for several hours already), I decided that we would come back tomorrow night when it was forecast to be warmer and get a nice stereo recording.

Needless to say, the next night it was just as cold and there were no Pickerel Frogs calling.  I'm glad I at least got something the night before.  

That is my 38th of the 42 (maybe 44 now) species occurring in Texas.   Maybe I can get lucky and knock off another two this year?  I still need Houston Toad (Anaxyrus houstonensis), American Toad (Anaxyurus americanus), Pig Frog (Lithobates grylio), and White-lipped Frog (Leptodactylus fragilis) of the native species and Greenhouse Frog (Eleutherodactylus planirostris) and Cuban Treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) of the introduced species.   There is a newly described/about to be described Chirping Frog species I might still need although I won't know that until I see a range map.

I will leave you with a bit more of the recording of the Spring Peepers, Southern Leopard Frogs and Pickerel Frogs from this dirty roadside ditch.


Pickerel Frog and neighbors

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© Chris Harrison 2024

Stonemason Toadlet
Uperoleia lithomoda

Uperoleia lithomoda, photo by Richard D. Reams (CC license)

The Stonemason Toadlet (Uperoleia lithomoda) is another small toadlet from the Top End of Australia.   Like the other "toadlets" in the Australian genus Uperoleia, they are neither toads nor related to toads.  They are related to other Australian Ground Frogs in the family Myobatrachidae.   It is another of the many examples where the English words "frog" and "toad" fail to adequately describe the broad diversity of Anurans that are found throughout the world.

Like other Uperoleia, the Stonemason Toadlet remains burrowed underground through much of the year and only emerges to breed during the rains of the wet season.   I recorded these Stonemason Toadlets calling next to the road in Kakadu National Park after some heavy rains on the evening of January 4, 2024.

I never saw the toadlets making this call, so I am once again indebted to the generosity of other photographers who allow their iNaturalist record photos to be used under a Creative Commons License.   This great photo was posted by Richard D. Reams (username rreams) on his record for the species from further west in the Northern Territory.

The call of the Stonemason Toadlet sounds like the clicking of stones together, or as the common name implies, the sound of a stonemason at work.   For those of use more familiar with North American frog calls, it is reminiscent of the clicking of our Cricket Frogs (genus Acris).

In this recording, you hear Stonemason Toadlets calling against a background of the raspy calls of the Desert Treefrog (Litoria rubella).


Uropelia lithomoda calling from Kakadu National Park

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© Chris Harrison 2024 

Remote Froglet
Crinia remota


 The Remote Froglet (Crinia remota) is a small frog of the Australian Top End.  Unfortunately, although I have managed to record a few species of Crinia while in Australia, I have never managed to see one of the little buggers!   They are tiny frogs that call from flooded grassy areas and seem to stop calling/disappear as soon as you approach or shine a light on them. 😒

So once again I am forced to rely on the generosity of others who have agreed to allow their photos to be used under a Creative Commons License.   The photo above was taken by Aaron Bean (username beaniana08 on iNaturalist) and is used under the terms of the Creative Commons license he granted to iNaturalist.org.

The call of the Remote Froglet is an ascending trill, somewhat remniscent of the calls of many of our North American Chorus Frog (Pseudacris species).   This chorus was calling from a grassy, flooded roadside ditch in Kakadu National Park northwest of the town of Jabiru on a rainy January night at the beginning of 2024.

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© Chris Harrison 2024

Black-shinned Rocket Frog
Litoria tornieri

 

The Black-shinned Rocket Frog (Litoria tornieri) is found on in Australia's "Top End" from the Kimberley Region of northern Western Australia and along the norther tier of the Northern Territory.   There are a number of these "ranid-looking" rocket frog species across Australia but in the Kakadu area, this was the species I most commonly encountered.

Adults are around 1.5 inches (3.5cm) in total length and are typically reddish-brown or grayish-brown with a few irregular black spots along the sides.   The area along the edge of the snout and through the eye to the tympanum (ear) is marked with a dark "mask".  

This species was common in the swampy savannah woodlands through Kakadu National Park.   I heard them calling from most flooded areas after rains and found a large number hopping across the roads at night.

Their call could be described as a two-part "ribbit" although it isn't like the North American Pacific Coast Pseudacris species from where that common frog onomatopoeic call name originates.   It is more "buzzy" and less "croaky" than the American Pseudacris that made the "ribbit" name synonymous with frog calls.


Here's a cleaned up recording of a few calling from along the road in Kakadu National Park


Litoria tornieri isolated recording

And here's another recording from the same spot, but with some Remote Froglets (Crinia remota) adding their dry trills above the Rocket Frogs.


Litoria tornieri calling with Crinia remota

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© Chris Harrison 2024

Fat (Jabiru) Toadlet
Uperoleia crassa/arenicola

 

The Fat Toadlet (Uperoleia crassa) is a small toadlet of the Australian Top End.   It is found from northeastern Western Australia, east through the top end of the Northern Territory and down into northwestern Queensland.   However, there is another species of Uperoleia, the Jabiru Toadlet (U. arenicola) that was described from the rocky savannas on western edge of Arnhem Land (north-central NT).   This falls inside the range of the Fat Toadlet (U. crassa).  Several authorities question whether the Jabiru Toadlet (U. arenicola) is a valid species or whether it is just a population of the more widespread Fat Toadlet (U. crassa).

These Toadlets that I recorded in January 2024 were technically in the range of the Jabiru Toadlet, if such a creature exists.  In fact, I was only 12miles NNW of the town of Jabiru for which they are named.   But if the Jabiru Toadlet isn't a valid species, then these are Fat Toadlets (U. crassa).   So I can't say which species they are, just that they are whichever crassa/arenicola species occurs in western Arnhem land.

Not only are the Fat and Jabiru Toadlets visually indistinguishable according to authorities on the genus, but their calls sound the same as well.   The excellent Australian Museum Frog ID page does not have a recording of Jabiru Toadlets.   It does have Fat Toadlet recordings, and they sound pretty similar to mine.

The call of these Toadlets is hard to describe in words.   I guess a short, buzzy "beep" or descending "be-ohp" might be a start, but there is also a shorter "chuck" call interspersed.   I can't put it into words, but here's a couple calling from a roadside in Kakadu National Park from January 2024 after some rains.   You figure out what they are saying! 😆


Fat Toadlets calling

In this second recording, you hear a larger chorus with the croaking of an Australian Green Treefrog (Ranoidea caerulea) in the background.


Fat Toadlets calling

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© Chris Harrison 2024

Hidden-ear Frog
Ranoidea cryptotis


The Hidden-ear Frog (Ranoidea cryptotis) is a medium-sized dumpy frog of the Australian north.   It is found from the Kimberley Region of Western Australia, east through the Northern Territory and into northern Queensland.   The common name "hidden-ear" as well as the specific epithet cryptotis are references to the fact that this frog lacks an obvious external tympanum (eardrum) as is seen in other members of the genus.   

In color they are brown or green mottled, usually with a orange mid-dorsal stripe.


In general appearance, these reminded me of one of the North American Spadefoots (Scaphiopodidae) and they live a similar lifestyle.  They remain burrowed in the soil for much of the year but emerge during the wet season to breed in flooded roadside ditches, ponds and swamps.

Not only do they visually remind me of the Scaphiopodidae, but their call has the groaning sound of many of the spadefoots.   The call could be described as a groaning "woah, woah" produced over and over again.

Unfortunately, where I recorded these frogs there was a deafening chorus of other species calling (Ranoidea australis, Ranoidea longipes, Litoria rubella, Litoria inermis, Litoria ridibunda Uperoleia lithomoda and others).   Here's a video where I tried to focus on the Hidden-ear Frogs, but you can hear how loud the others were.  It was uncomfortable to the ears to be standing in this chorus!


Here's my recording of those choristers. The clicking sound is the Stonemason Toadlet nearby.


Hidden-ear Frog

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© Chris Harrison 2023

Ornate Burrowing Frog - revisited
Platyplectrum ornatum

 Why am I creating a new, separate post for the Ornate Burrowing Frog (Platyplectrum ornatum)?   

Simple, I got another, better recording of the species!

My first recording was one of those "accidental finds" I come across in my recordings.  I had recorded one in 2014 in Queensland but hadn't known what the sound was until much later.   But this time I got to see the little frogs calling and got a much better recording.

On the evening of December 31, 2023 we were staying in Kunanurra, Western Australia.   It was the beginning of the wet season in this arid region, but the area immediately around the town hadn't received any rain yet.   On the afternoon of December 31st, the sky opened up and it rained heavily for a few hours.   I know it was New Year's Eve and all, but an opportunity to go frogging after the first heavy seasonal rainfall in the desert doesn't come along every year.   New Year's Eve does, and I've seen plenty of fireworks before.   So off I went.

I only got a mile or so out of town before the sounds of frogs calling in the ditches made me stop.   Next to the road in this little drainage ditch there was this magical little frog chorus emanating from it.   I peeked over to see who the singers were and found this group of a dozen or more little floating Platyplectrum singing their "doop" call.  It was much less sharply percussive than my previous experience with the species and it had a charm that made it one of my favorite frog choruses of the whole trip down under.

Unfortunately, there was a very loud Desert Treefrog (Litoria rubella) right next to where I put my microphones so he drowned out a lot of the calls.   I had to filter that out so you could enjoy the little floating chorus of "doop!" frogs.


a Platyplectrum "doop!" party

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© Chris Harrison 2023


Western Laughing Treefrog
Litoria ridibunda


 When I first decided that I was going to the top end of Australia for the austral summer of 2023/2024, I of course looked at my frog books to see which new species I could encounter and record.   One of the species I saw listed was an old friend, the Northern Laughing Treefrog (Litoria rothii).   I had encountered these frogs about 10 years earlier in many areas in northeastern Queensland.

However, doing a bit of updated research on the Australian Museum's Frog Identification page (and App), I was delighted to learn that the population of Laughing Treefrogs in the Top End was now a new species, the Western Laughing Treefrog (Litoria ridibunda).   So I would get another new frog!

Now, for all practical purposes, the Western Laughing Treefrog is pretty much indistinguishable from its eastern cousin and sounds very similar.  I found and recorded this species a number of places in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.   Pretty much anywhere there was water, this species was present.   This was similar to the distribution of its eastern sister species as well.

The call of this species is.....well.....a laughing sound.  In this recording from Fogg Dam Conservation area, you hear this species calling with crickets and later the buzzy trill of the Northern Sedge Frog (Litoria bicolor) and at the end, the distant metallic "ponk" of the Marbled Frog (Limnodynastes convexiusculus)



Western Laughing Treefrogs from Fogg Dam

In this second recording from Kakadu National Park, we hear a Laughing Treefrog along with the buzzy trills of the Northern Sedge Frogs (L. bicolor) again.



Western Laughing Treefrogs from Kakadu National Park

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© Chris Harrison 2024

Northern Sedge Frog
Litoria bicolor

 


The Northern Sedge Frog or Northern Dwarf Treefrog (Litoria bicolor) is a tiny frog of wet grassy meadows, flooded grassy areas and vegetated ponds and lakes along the northern tier of Australia.  They occur from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, across the "Top End" of the Northern Territory and also in the tropical northeastern parts of Queensland.

These area slender green or brownish frogs with a pale whitish lateral stripe from the upper lip all the way to the back legs.   An adult is slightly over an inch long (3cm). They can have a greenish or tan dorsum and some individuals show a prominent dark stripe along the back as well.


Northern Sedge Frogs calling

The call of the Northern Sedge Frog is a series a short "chucks" followed by an insect-like buzzy trill.   We heard this species calling day and night in grassy areas along waterways all across the top end of Australia.

I have tried to record this species before, but had a lot of difficulty hearing them.   The problem was that I was in northern Queensland where this species is sympatric with the very similar Eastern Sedge Frog (Litoria fallax).   These two species are very difficult to distinguish visually.   The only way I was certain the frogs and recordings in this post are L. bicolor was that they were from the Northern Territory and outside the range of L. fallax.

Normally in my blog when that's a problem, there is an easy fix - they have different calls.   However the calls of the Northern and Eastern Sedge Frogs are very similar to the ear and differ in subtle structural ways.   I will create a separate "similar species" post discussing those two species.

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 © Chris Harrison 2024

Lifelist Updates for 2024

Spent the holiday season of 2023/24 on a trip to the top end of Australia.  

Didn't spend a lot of time recording frogs but I did get to add a few species to my recording lifelist.   I am still working my way through my recordings and identifying new choristers so this list will grow hopefully.   Some of my IDs are still tentative so I hope to get some feedback through iNaturalist.
 

Black-shinned Rocket Frog (Litoria tornieri)
Northern Sedge Frog (Litoria bicolor)
Western Laughing Treefrog (Litoria ridibunda) - a newly described species
Fat/Jabiru Toadlet (Uperoleia crassa/arenicola)
Stonemason Toadlet (Uperoleia lithomoda)
Remote Froglet (Crinia remota)
Long-footed Frog (Ranoidea longipes)
Daly Waters Frog (Ranoidea maculosa) - maybe?
Australian Giant Frog (Ranoidea australis)
Hidden-ear Frog (Ranoidea cryptotis)

Although not a new species, I also got better recordings of another Australian species:

Ornate Burrowing Frog (Platyplectrum ornatum)

I will be adding the species accounts and recordings for those species in the coming weeks as I confirm their IDs.

 
So, a bit of updating to the lifelist means it looks like this....


Family Genus Number of species recorded so far
Bufonidae


Anaxyrus
10

Incilius
3

Rhinella
2



Hylidae


Acris
3

Boana
2

Dendropsophus
2

Hyla
8

Pseudacris
6

Osteopilus
1

Scinax
3

Smilisca
2

Triprion
1



Pelodryadidae

Litoria
9

Nyctimystes
1

Ranoidea
8



Microhylidae

Austrochaperina
2

Hypopachus
1

Gastrophryne
2



Myobatrachidae

Crinia
2

Limnodynastes
1

Platyplectrum
1

Uperoleia
2
Craugastoridae

Craugastor
2

Pristimantis
1

Eleutherodactylidae

Diasporus
1

Eleutherodactylus
9



Centrolenidae

Hyalinobatrachium
3

Cochranella1

Leptodactylidae

Leptodactylus
6

Engystomops
1
Ranidae

Lithobates
8



Dendrobatidae

Oophaga
1



Hemiphractidae

Flectonotus
1



Aromobatidae

Mannophryne
2



Rhinophrynidae

Rhinophrynus
1



Scaphiopodidae

Scaphiopus
2

Spea
2

Total # Families = 15

Total # Genera = 37
Total # Species = 113


© Chris Harrison 2024