Australian Bush Life

Southern Brown Tree Frog - Litoria ewingii on window.

The Southern Brown Tree Frog – Litoria ewingii is a commonly frog found in our local area. We hear them croaking with a weep, weep ,weep, weep, weep, weep, weep sound (first “weep” sound is the longest). In fact I think we would feel quite sad if we didn’t hear this sound coming from our garden as it is so much a part of our lives.

We don’t always see these frogs though so got a big surprise when we found one in the kitchen amongst our drying dishes the other day. Luckily this little guy had found a nice moist place underneath a mug and was still in great condition so could safely be returned to the garden.

To pick up this frog I just ensured that I had nice clean hands as frogs have very sensitive skin and they can absorb all sorts of chemicals and other compounds that dissolve in water. I also wet my hands with clean water to reduce the abrasive impact of my rough hands (any human hand is rough to delicate frog skin).

Being a tree frog though he was pretty quick to make a get away and using his large toe pads tried to hop away by making his way up the kitchen window before I gently got a grab on him. To return him to the garden I placed him in an area with plenty of frog habitat including ground cover plants, rocks and habitat logs so that he could quickly find a sheltered place to hide out the day. I gave the area a sprinkle of clean water too to ensure that he didn’t dry out whilst find that hiding place.

Southern Brown Tree Frog - Litoria ewingii on ground cover plant.

To us frogs are such an important part of our garden biodiversity. All frogs are sensitive to pollution and habitat degradation so knowing they can find a home in our garden re-assures us that we are looking after our natural environment. These little tree frogs pay us back by keeping our insect populations under control as they are very agile predators. They are an organic gardeners treasure feeding aggressively most nights throughout the year - it is difficult to think how many thousands of potential vegetable garden pests they must consume.

Heres to the Southern Brown Tree Frogs they are welcome to live around our vegetable garden any day.

Other frogs in our garden…

Striped Marsh Frog - Limnodynastes peronii.

We find Striped Marsh Frogs – Limnodynastes peronii in our garden most summers. We usually have to be careful if we are digging a hole for planting our vegies as Striped Marsh Frogs tend to like digging in to softer soil especialy in areas where the soil is often moistened. We haven’t managed to spade one yet and I hope we don’t either it wouldn’t be pleasant.

After the bushfire we didn’t know if any of our frogs would have made it, but as our whole home didn’t burn down we had some plants in pots and other things around the house that they managed to survive in or under. The first few months after the bushfire would have been difficult for them as there was no cover like logs or indignenous vegetation for them to hide under, but I guess they found food as there were insects around particularly ants.

Striped Marsh Frog - Limnodynastes peronii. Hiding after bushfire.

About 2 months after the bushfire we were cleaning up some of the debris from our 4 burnt down sheds on our bush block when we turned up a bit of corrugated iron we noticed a weird hole. When we looked closely we realised that it was a Striped Marsh Frogs home. They really do live in the most amazing places, well I suppose there was little choice as the ground was still bare from the bushfire. We put the iron back down over the Striped Marsh Frogs hole to give him some protection.

More information on wildlife on our bush block.