Nothing could be finer than the beautifully melodic lowing of the Asiatic painted frog (Kaloula pulchra).

Taken in Yung Shue Long New Village.

Or the rattling of the brown tree frog (Polypedates megacephalus).

Nancy

Very nice photos of your avatar animal!

Worthy of the home page: Wildlife Photo of the Day, today. Congrats!

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

I'm quite sure that lowing is from a herd of wildebeest. I think they're hiding in the tall grass and brush in the Yung Shue Long valley.I just haven't been able to get a photo of them yet.

I guess you get used to the sound after awhile, but there are a bunch of them 'singing' right behind my flat and hearing them makes me laugh every night. I can't think of any other frog (wildebeest) having such a ridiculous call.

I find the sound rather soothing as well. It doesn't interrupt my sleep at all. I'm just amazed that those tiny critters can make such a big sound. I keep expecting a herd of wildebeest to stroll out of the bush.

Listen to the wildebeest sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6St7lkh ... ed&search=

"Living with Frogs on Lamma"

FIne story and fine photos by nkarraker on the home page:
Lamma-zine, Sunday, Apr 15, 2007.

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

Nancy, maybe you can solve the riddle of the turds. Perhaps you didn't notice the thread on Black Turds [ http://www.lamma.com.hk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3914 ] I posted a few weeks back? Is it possible that frogs or toads are responsible for the mysterious, rather large and often rather slimy turds on Lamma's paths (er...and I don't mean dogs').

_________________
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

Rather depressing report from today's press:

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conse ... 85,00.html

What a cute tree frog in that article.


It seems a drop in leaf litter is the cause of the decline, ostensibly a result of warmer wetter weather.

Yes, amphibians have been disappearing in many pristine areas particularly in Queensland and Central America over the past 10 years. I was working at a site in Panama in the last two years where several species of frogs were abundant one year and completely gone the next. The worst part is that we often aren't sure what the trouble is. Given the amount of development and pollution in Hong Kong, we are fortunate that the amphibians seem to be doing well here. Part of my work in Hong Kong will be to see if the fungus that causes the disease, chytridiomycosis, reported on in the Guardian article is here and infecting amphibians. Let's hope it's not.

Marcanthony, I was the person (nkarraker) on that thread suggesting that your turds were not from frogs if they were an inch or inch and a half in size. I have looked for your turds on the path and have only seen one, but I couldn't be certain that it was your turd. It might have been half an inch and didn't look to be from a toad.

It is reasonable that they could be frog turds given their appearance just as the frogs were ramping up, but we would hear squeals of pain amid the calls if they released turds that big. When you see a bunch again (I am sure they were all swept away tonight), tell me where and I will take a look.

By the way, it is a good night to be a frog. The ornate pygmy frog started calling tonight and all the other species were in full chorus. No pictures, but I will get some soon.

Nancy, my turds are usually much larger than that and never on the paths!!! You were right about the rain...turds washed away. But anyway, in Po Wah Yuen you don't need to look far to find them usually. I wonder of you have any pix of frog turds? Failing that I'll try and get a pic soon...intriguing stuff!

_________________
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

Aren't all the dog turds bad enough? And the bird turds on our balconies and rooftops! Now we have to worry about frog/toad turds as well?

Anybody wants to write a Lamma-zine story on the turds of Lamma, categorising them, with close-up pictures, of course?

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

I was walking home onTuesday night late after some heavy rain, the wind was like a small Typhon, The frogs were singing in the drains near the library, the whole ground was singing! I walked along the water's edge at the glass beach with the ground moaning the wind howling and the sea thrashing! Whoa!
Were these the painted asian frog, is this a seasonal mating call or a common occurance?

Do we have an expert on Snake Turds.......... coz the above mentioned turds certainly appear in areas where frogs congregate, & maybe they are turded frogs or frog turds, as opposed to frogs' turds.......... although I still think they are frogs' turds given the insect content previously commented on by Marcanthony.

The BBC has a cute little strawberry frog in their report of the same problem.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6564329.stm

Some links to other frog reports on that page.

Turds update! While walking the dog this morning I was on the lookout for the turds for the first time in a while. They vary in size more than I had realised - some only a bit more than a centimetre in length, while on the path at the back of Tannery beach I found one that wasn't far from two inches long and about as thick as a pencil, tapering at either end. This big one I mashed up and gave it a sniff - whoooooh! Very, very stinky!! But the shape and contents are very similar, irrespective of size (very friable, crumbly bits of what look like small beatle casings and wings perhaps - no bones as far as I can see). But it'd be one hell of a frog to have dropped the big one. As far as distribution goes, they' were visible all the way back up into Po Wah Yuen - I saw at least 7 ot 8 without looking too hard - I couldn't as my dog was trying to go after a cat.

_________________
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

Could you record their calls and/or link to some MP3s for different species?