One night while recording frogs in a cane field area near Miallo, Queensland, I recorded this a loud, percussive frog call I didn't know. I originally had assumed it was Peron's Treefrog, but further research led me to the culprit. The call was a loud "knocking" sound heard over the background calls of the Australian Rocket Frogs (Litoria nasuta).
One of the great things about living in the information age is how easily you can get feedback from others. I originally identified these unseen frogs as the calls of the Striped Marsh Frog (Limnodynastes peronii) based on listening to recordings on David Stewart's wonderful frog call CD. But in looking at range maps I started to wonder if maybe I was outside the range of L. peronii, so I posted this recording on the Facebook Australian R&A Identification group and got an answer almost immediately! Then by comparing my recordings others of the suggested species online, I think I've finally got the correct ID.
Most written descriptions describe the call of the Ornate Burrowing Frog as a percussive "unk". The other raspier call in the background is the Australian Rocket Frog (Litoria nasuta).
Ornate Burrowing Frog Calls - Miallo, Queensland
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| Ornate Burrowing Frog from near Chillagoe, Queensland |
The Ornate Burrowing Frog or Ornate Frog (Platyplectrum ornatum) is a stubby little frog found in a wide area of the northern and eastern coasts of Australia from Central New South Wales to northernmost Western Australia. It can apparently be found in a variety of semi-open habitats where there are sandy soils. It spends most of its life burrowed beneath the sand only emerging during wet periods.
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| Ornate Burrowing Frog range map adapted from the Australian Frog Atlas under Creative Commons License |
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