Ornate Burrowing FrogPlatyplectrum ornatum

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!   Listening to the recordings, I think I've finally got the correct ID.

The Ornate Burrowing Frog or Ornate Frog (Platyplectrum ornatum) is a stubby little frog found in a wide area 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.

One night while recording frogs in a cane field area near Miallo, Queensland, I recorded this a loud 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).   Most descriptions of this call refer to it as a metallic "unk".

Ornate Burrowing Frog Calls - Miallo, Queensland


The photo shown here was taken several years before near the town of Chillagoe, further inland from where this recording was made.

 © Chris Harrison 2014 & 2020