Frogging with K-ris

Last night, Alecia and I went frogging with K-ris at one of his sites at the northern end of the D’Aguilar Range.

We saw lots of things besides frogs, and I’m totally in awe of how easy it can be to work on frogs (compared with, for example, snakes). Frogs occur in quite high densities (we caught and processed about 30 in around 5 hours), the frogs call to let you know where they are, when you see them they tend to just sit there until you grab them, and you don’t die when they bite you!


The study site


The study site


A frog print

Litoria wilcoxi
A Litoria wilcoxi

Litoria wilcoxi
A Litoria wilcoxi. She doesn’t know what’s about to happen…


… Gotcha!

Litoria wilcoxi
Bagged and ready for processing


They can hop quite far, even while in the plastic bag

Litoria wilcoxi
The males can be a striking yellow colour during the breeding season

Cascade tree frog (Litoria pearsoniana)
This Litoria pearsoniana lives in the drain that goes under the road

Cascade tree frog (Litoria pearsoniana)
Another Litoria pearsoniana

Cascade tree frog (Litoria pearsoniana)
The same Litoria pearsoniana, different angle

Cascade tree frog (Litoria pearsoniana)
Yet another Litoria pearsoniana

Tusked frog (Adelotus brevis)
An Adelotus brevis egg mass. I could hear the frog calling from under that overhanging rock…


…He’s in there somewhere…

Tusked frog (Adelotus brevis)
Another, more visible, Adelotus brevis

Tusked frog (Adelotus brevis)
Adelotus brevis have very bright markings

Tusked frog (Adelotus brevis)
After processing, we released him


A flower


A rough-scaled snake making a getaway. He was in the same spot for most of the night, but I didn’t manage to get any photos

Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
We went to investigate some large splashing noises, and found a platypus

Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
We watched him for about 20 minutes in a small rock pool. I think there were two platypods in pools separated by about 50 metres of rocky creek bed.


A millipede


A moth


A dragonfly nymph (I think)


A snail


Everyone’s favourite invertebrate, a yabby


There were lots of spiders

Trapdoor spider
Including some trapdoor spiders

Trapdoor spider
They sit at the entrances of their burrows in the banks…

Trapdoor spider
…but they don’t like flashes


A water spider

About Stewart Macdonald

I'm a wildlife ecologist living and working in Queensland, Australia. I spend most of my time in the bush finding and photographing wildlife.
This entry was posted in Academia, Animal photos, In the field. Bookmark the permalink.

6 Responses to Frogging with K-ris

  1. Stewart says:

    Hello Shamus. How are you?

  2. Kat says:

    awesome photos stewbie!

    nice platypus! that’s a once in a lifetime find!

    well done old chum

    ^_^

  3. adam says:

    nice photos!

    i’ve tried taking photos of platypus… dead set near impossible! you’ve got skill, stewart.

  4. joee. says:

    Did you know that the primary school teachers decided, without asking the english teachers, to abandon the plural
    “platypii”
    in favour of
    “platypusses”

    Same fate for octopii.
    I have to say I don’t think platypii are really as hard to find and photograph as everyone makes out, but I grew up on a river where we had one that bow rode our canoe like dolphins do.

    I had to say word up for the millipede. My favourite invert.

  5. Nathan says:

    hey there

    nice Litoria pearsoniana i often find these in the gold coast hinterland aswell as the adelotus brevis im not a frog person but those 2 and litoria brevipalmata are all pretty special. i have also encountered assa darlingtoni recently which was a suprise for everyone :)

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