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.
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© Chris Harrison 2023
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