Highway Frogging.
the following is a nice story from Nick Lambert, about his recent trip to Western Australia with Thomas and Pete. Sound like they had a blast.
A term coined on our recent W.A. trip (@thebeachcomber, @possumpete and myself, @nicklambert ) for a method which proved highly successful in finding some of the more rare frogs in the area.
All you need is a bit of road, preferably through an area with native vegetation; some rain, which we had a fair bit of; and a vehicle with some people keen on driving at low speed using their eagle-like vision to scan for tiny frogs.
I'll be adding a few of the different species we encountered during the week, but I'll start with one of the highlights: The Turtle Frog!!
Myobatrachus gouldii, commonly called the Turtle Frog and looking akin to a saggy piece of chicken, was one of our favourite finds of the trip.
Turtle Frog Myobatrachus gouldii ©Nick Lambert, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC-SA) @nicklambert
Found only along a small part of W.A's south-eastern coastline, this frog is one of the weirdest and most obscure frogs in Australia. As it inhabits the semi-arid zone (desert), it has adapted to survive by burrowing beneath the sand. What makes it unique among the other burrowing frogs is the fact that it digs headfirst with it's muscular front legs (like a turtle)!
They eat termites and burrow as deep as 1.3 m, coming to the surface at night only to absorb moisture during or after rain.
We were lucky enough to find 3 of these guys during our time there and they were a crowd favourite.
Here is another Turtle Frog recorded by Pete
Turtle Frog Myobatrachus gouldii © Peter Crowcroft, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC) @possumpete
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