The Southern Forests is known for its trees, its lush green winters, wineries and as a great food growing area, but did you know we also have a lot of frogs? And some quite quirky ones too! For example: the Humming Frog, the Quacking Froglet, the Ticking Frog, the Hooting Frog, the Slender Tree Frog, the Motorbike Frog, and (my personal favourite) the Western Banjo Frog which is also known as the Pobblebonk Frog or the Bonking Frog.
With the first real rain in the area all the frogs have come out to play and they can be quite vocal at night. You can stand on your verandah and hear the Motorbike Frog (which sounds just like a motorbike stuck in second gear;( click here to hear the Motorbike Frog) or the Banjo Frog that makes a bonking noise that sounds like a whole bunch of musicians down by the dam plucking at a banjo’s strings (click here to hear the Banjo Frog); the Slender Tree Frog you will hear but rarely see, unless you’re lucky because they are small, but they are everywhere in the forest, in our garden and down by the dam.
It’s a good thing I don’t have an aversion to frogs. I know many people don’t like the feel of them and squeal and run should they accidentally touch one or someone puts one in their hands. I don’t have that problem and, much to our farm cats disgust, I am quite happy to rescue them from him, pick them up and transplant them to a safer place. This is how I learnt that when in danger frogs squeal, yes, squeal. I’d never heard anything like it before until one night on the farm. Upon closer inspection Munchkin, our farm cat, had bailed one up against the window. That was my first rescue frog and I hope that, once I relocated him, he lived happily ever after.
It’s very easy to find frogs around here as there is such an abundance of them about, particularly at this time of year. Take a torch down by the dam after dark and you can have a lot of fun tracking down these frogs but you needn’t go that far. The Motorbike frogs can often be spotted around our cottages. The side burner of our BBQ is a popular spot. Our record is six! Six Motorbike Frogs under the lid of the side burner all at once. And they are very clever. They blend in. They turn a very dark brown when seen around the BBQ or a bright green if they are trying to hide in the garden. They also like to hide up in the rafters of the verandahs and have been known to drop on people’s heads as they step out the door! We have one hiding in our office at the moment. We see his footprints all over our computer screen and just the other day he left a poop on our computer mouse! Thanks a lot Mr Frog!
If you’re looking for a bit of adventure the Pemberton Visitors Centre offers frog tours during the school holidays at the right time of year, generally in Winter and Spring. Take a tour around Big Brook Dam or Pemberton Pool after dark and your experienced guide will point out different frogs and their individual croaks. Learn about frogs while you hunt for them by torch light. With your newly gained knowledge you can set out on the farm for your own frog hunt, see how many you can find and which ones you can identify by their croak or by sight.