Tiny Frogs Return
Such a long time since I posted anything, but a good way to begin again is with a favourite subject – some images of Litoria ewingii, Southern Brown Tree Frogs, sitting on Hydrangea leaves just outside my back door in the rain.
These are tiny creatures, less than 2 cms in length, and young ones hatched this season. The fly just happened to be sitting there………
Litoria ewingii – Brown Tree Frogs
When down by the lake in search of emerging dragonflies early one morning, I discovered the water reeds were full of these gorgeous little frogs – Litoria ewingii, who come in a variety of colours, and are rarely over 3 cms long. I love them! By the time the sun is coming over the trees and it begins to warm up, they are gone, hiding in the grasses and reeds on ground level.
Click on any image for a larger view.
Little Froggies…….Littoria ewingii
There are several species of small frog that live around the garden and by my lake. At night the calls are deafening, and I often find them in the grass or garden when working outside. These however, live in the Hydrangeas which are just outside my back door. They pretty much vanish through the winter, but at this time of year there are many young ones to be found amongst the leaves. They are Littoria ewingii or Southern Brown Tree Frogs and the adults only reach about 45mm in size. These ones are tiny, about the size of a finger nail, and to give you an idea, one in the photos below, is sitting on the underside of my little finger. As usual, click on an individual photo to enlarge it.
Local Frogs
With Spring approaching plus endless rain, the local frog population is very vocal, and one can hear them in most parts of this large garden. I often find them when weeding or doing other things in the garden, and will sometimes capture them for a short while, take some photos and then release again where they were found. Here are a couple of my recent finds – they are all very small.
The one on the right is the most common Litoria ewinii, the Southern Brown Tree Frog. As there is a huge variation in colour and markings in this species, the other smaller one may be the same, but I am not sure and cannot find a way of identifying it clearly from this source. It was very small, and was found buried rather than just under some leaf litter so could be something different as it also seemed to have a different shape. This is it sitting on my thumbnail.
Some others…
PS. Today ( 1/8/12) I received an answer from the Melbourne Museum Discovery Centre, to whom I had sent the above photo in the hope they might identify this little dark frog for me. This is their response:-
This is probably either a Common Eastern Froglet (Crinia signifera) or an Eastern Sign-bearing Froglet (aka Beeping Froglet – Crinia parasignifera). These two froglets would probably be found in this area and they can really only be identified easily by their calls – the calls can be listened to on the MV website at http://museumvictoria.com.au/bioinformatics/frog/
So now we know!
Little Frog
There is a dearth of good photo subjects in my garden at the moment – it’s mid winter, cold, mostly wet, no flowers, few insects……but today I found a frog!
I think it is a Litoria ewingii, or Brown Tree Frog (despite finding it under a log) and it measured only about 3 cms from nose to tail. There are at least 36 different frogs listed as occurring in Victoria and many of them look similar, while even in their own species there can be a wide variation in colour and marking. There is an excellent key to identification of frogs here which I have checked, and I’m also going to try and get some external help from someone who is a froggy expert, so there may be more later.
P.S This is a quote from the advice I was given as to the identity of this frog – “the toe pads mean it can’t be anything but a tree frog and that means Litoria. The dark patch on the back makes it ewingii.” So it seems I was correct.
It’s nice to be shooting with my 100mm macro lens again!
Soft, dew kissed, comfy and sweet smelling……..Home Sweet Home
On Sunday morning , when I walked past one of the Apricot Nectar rose bushes, an unusual patch of colour caught my eye – a tiny Litoria ewingii, or Southern Brown Tree Frog getting settled for a day’s snooze. My garden is full of these delightful creatures, I hear their calls every day, and often come across them when pulling weeds – but this was the first time I had seen one here.
Disturbed by my attention, this particular one hopped off this rose……but I later saw it under a petal on another bush. Then, as I walked away, I turned to look again, and saw these……What a life!
As usual, all with the Canon EOS 550D, macro lens and using a tripod.
Litoria ewigii – Southern Brown Tree Frogs
More photos of the tiny frogs…….it was a warm and damp day, they were visible in good light, and a little more active than usual, so some were caught mid jump.
All taken with the Macro 100mm f2.8.
Hope you enjoy the slideshow…
Boxing Day Macro Shots…….
Barely a couple of centimetres long, these little tree frogs, Litoria ewingii have been sitting among the Hydrangea leaves during daylight for most of the last few days, probably because the weather has been favourable with high humidity and not too hot. They make great subjects for photography, often remaining still for ages before hopping away.
With the warmer weather come the flies………
