It was going to be another wet, cold night – so perfect to get out looking for frogs.  I tried to arrange 2 of my brothers to join but only Leif could make it – Joel said he was too tired!  Leif wanted to see Slender Tree Frogs and I was keen to try Wellard Wetlands again as I hadn’t seen the Squelching Froglets the first time I came here.

We headed out to the aptly named Frog Pond at the wetlands and could immediately hear the chorus of Slender Tree Frogs and Squelching Froglets which I made a recording of.

The water level was up so all the grass that was dry last time had water underneath it.  This made spotting the frogs much harder as they had that much more cover.  We looked for some time – my previous experience not really helping.  Leif found the first frog  after maybe 30 minutes or so – a Slender Tree Frog (Litoria adelaidensis) – which slipped away as I came for a closer look.  It came back out of hiding a while later.

We had heard other Slenders calling in the grass and taking a look we found this Spider (Wolf I think?) taking its whole family of spiderlings for a walk – amazing sight!

I then got lucky and saw a flash of movement in the pond – another species – a Squelching Froglet! I got a photo in the pond and then moved it for better shots. A pretty small frog only about 2cm long and really makes a noisy call!

Leif found another Slender which we were able to relocate for some better photos.

I really like the pose the Slender is working

Slender tree frog

And then we called it a night – success – Slenders for Leif and I had finally found the Squelching.  That’s 3 Criniaspecies and 2 Litoria in a couple of months.