2021 Frog Survey night
After Mulloon’s wettest year on record and perfect survey conditions, the 2021 frog survey across the Mulloon Rehydration Initiative catchment-scale project was truly special.
With the recent expansion of frog sites as part of continued RARC (Rapid Appraisal of Riparian Condition) surveys, the Mulloon team embarked on the ambitious project of surveying 66 sites across the length of the Mulloon catchment all in one night. Volunteers and landholders from the across the catchment came together to help, including our very own CEO Carolyn Hall, as well as Keira Banks and David Moore from Umwelt Environmental Consultants.
Five teams of intrepid volunteers donned head torches, grabbed clipboards and set out at dusk to navigate each of their respective properties. Following the ACT Frogwatch method, a five-minute recording was made at each site, as well as recording the weather conditions, air and water temperature. The recording was then uploaded for frog expert Sam Patmore to confirm the frog ID and numbers recorded by each team. Recordings were also taken and submitted using the Australian Museum’s Frog ID app.
The perfect conditions meant the night was a resounding success, with volunteers rewarded with three new species not previously recorded in the catchment!
Stony Creek Frog (Litoria lesueuri)
Southern Green Stream Frog (L. nudidigitus)
Screaming Tree Frog (L. quiritatus) - a species very recently split from L. dentata.
Innumerable frogs were heard calling often in a deafening chorus around the surveyed bodies of water. Teams returned to the Home Farm following the survey in high spirits. It was great to realise that frog species are returning in numbers as the land recovers from drought!
The Mulloon Rehydration Initiative is jointly funded through the Mulloon Institute and the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program, while this frog survey has been assisted with funding from the NSW Government Environmental Trust (2019/RR/0042).
[Photos and audio: Ira Dudley-Bestow]