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June 2021 Issue THE FROG AND TADPOLE STUDY GROUP NSW Inc. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FATSNSW/ Email: [email protected] PO Box 296 Rockdale NSW 2216 NEWSLETTER No. 173 JUNE 2021 Frogwatch Helpline 0419 249 728 Website: www.fats.org.au ABN: 34 282 154 794 Eastern Stony Creek Frogs Litoria wilcoxii amplexing photo by Mark Sanders You are invited to our FATS meeting. It’s free. Everyone is welcome. Arrive from 6.30 pm for a 7pm start. Friday 4th June 2021 FATS meets at the Education Centre, Bicentennial Pk, Sydney Olympic Park Easy walk from Concord West Railway Station and straight down Victoria Ave. Take a torch in winter. By car: Enter from Australia Ave at the Bicentennial Park main entrance, turn off to the right and drive through the park. It’s a one way road. Turn right into P10f car park. CSIRO is publishing Photographic Field Guide to Australian Frogs https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7951/ by Mark Sanders. See P4 Or enter from Bennelong Rd/Parkway. It’s a short stretch of two way road. Turn left. Park in P10f car park, the last car park th FATS MEETING 7PM FRIDAY 4 JUNE 2021 before the Bennelong Rd. exit gate. There are no COVID19 meeting restrictions this month. 6.30 pm Lost frogs seeking forever homes: Please bring your PAGE CONTENTS membership card and cash $50 donation. Sorry, we don’t have EFTPOS. Your NSW NPWS amphibian licence must be FATS AGM sighted on the night. Adopted frogs can never be released. Frog-O-Graphic competition 2021 Contact us before the night and FATS will confirm if any frogs Main speaker last meeting 2 are ready to rehome. Samantha Wallace 7.00 pm Welcome and announcements Frog Rescue 3 Victoria’s painting 7.30 pm The main speaker is Roy Farmer from UNSW. Talking Mark Sanders frog book 4 about "Fossil frogs- an Australian perspective". Feral Species 5 Arthur White will be presenting "How to find extinct Leap of faith 6 - 7 frogs" and 'Saving Heleioporus in Victoria" Cane Toads 8 9.30 pm Show us your frog images. Tell us about your frogging trips or FATS at Royal Easter Show 9 experiences. Guessing competition, frog adoptions continue, Map 10 supper, relax and chat with frog friends and experts. Amphibian licences FATS contacts and information 11 Garth Coupland Litoria nasuta 12 FrogCall 173 P1 June 2021 2021 FATS FROG-O-GRAPHIC COMPETITION he FATS members’ 2021 Frog-O-Graphic T competition opens on the 1st May and closes on the 31st August 2021. Categories: Best Frog Image, Best Pet Frog Image, Most Interesting Image and People’s Choice. Category winners are decided by a panel of judges. People's Choice is voted for by everyone present at the October FATS meeting. Alternate arrangements will be made if we can’t meet in October. All entries are by email to [email protected] Please state: your name, confirm that you are a financial FATS member, identify the frog species preferably by scientific name (in the file name) and location, if known, whether the image is a pet frog and Handmade wool felt your contact phone number design Mad Hatter Beret worn by our clever Max 6 entries per person. Kimberley McReynolds Max attachment size 6 MB. See ETSY Madhatterberet [email protected] Fabulous prizes awarded. Entries must be original and your own work. They don’t have to be recent images. The entries may appear in FrogCall, FATS CELEBRATING Facebook, our web site and other FATS publications. WOMEN IN SCIENCE Arthur White Samantha Wallace from Newcastle Uni.was our speaker in April, talking about the "Strange World of Littlejohn's and Watsons' Tree frogs". FATS AGM NOTICE FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2021 he FATS AGM will be held on Friday 7/8/2021, T commencing 7pm. FATS meets at the Education Centre, Bicentennial Park, Sydney Olympic Park. If you would like to ask any questions about joining the FATS committee, please give us a call. Contact our President Arthur White at least two weeks before the meeting for further information and to submit items. We appreciate fresh ideas and new members on our committee. No experience required. The committee meets 6 times a year. No task commitments or time expected of committee members, other than what you are able to spare. See contacts details on page 11. Arthur White FrogCall 173 P2 June 2021 VET CELIA GACHES TO THE RESCUE Have you heard of "Banana Box Frogs"? everal species of frogs inhabit the banana orchards of S Queensland, and sometimes they accidently end up in shipments, travelling all over Australia. Unfortunately, this leaves them stranded. For the safety of other frogs, they can't go home (they may have picked up diseases). For this reason and their own safety, they can't be released where they're found!! Without the intervention of rescues, zoos, and research groups, these poor little hitchhikers would be doomed. Such was the story of this "Banana Box" Frog (a "Dainty/Graceful Tree Frog", Litoria gracilenta), who arrived in a shipment of bananas here locally. It was brought to our hospital, and after a hands-free physical exam, we began the process to find it a safe place to be. We were directed to The Frog and Tadpole Study Group of NSW by Nick Skevington (thanks Nick) and WIRES Inga Tiere. DELIGHTFUL PAINTING BY VICTORIA, FROM FATS ON FACEBOOK e love our frogs, who live on our property and W are enjoying learning more about them through this Group. My daughter, Victoria, has been inspired to paint a frog picture. Having always been animal lovers (pets and wild creatures). We were delighted to find frogs at our place, upon moving to the mid north coast of NSW. We love to hear the frog song at night when it is raining. A kind neighbour recommended us to your group and we have enjoyed learning so much more about these fascinating creatures, through your conservation Facebook group. Mum, Michelle and Victoria, King Creek NSW After some coordination, we are pleased to report our hoppy friend has entered into rescue care. Assuming it continues to be healthy through its quarantine period, it will be rehomed to an appropriately licensed and experienced frog guardian, to live the rest of its days in spoiled comfort!! We encourage our community to be actively aware of the conservation needs of our unique Australian Flora and Fauna. FATS is one of many organizations providing specialized conservation care and education. We are grateful to the spaces they have created for these wayward hoppers, as well as the knowledge we gain with their diligence and passion. Dr Celia Gaches, Bargo NSW www.premiervetcare.com.au Facebook PremierVetCareBargo We're a small local practice servicing our communities companion animals, as well as serving as the community wildlife veterinary service. We work with WIRES or any other wildlife group that needs assistance, as well as Photo by Samantha Wallace, male Litoria littlejohni serving as a contact point for members of the public. Dharawal National Park FrogCall 173 P3 June 2021 subtle differences such as shape, size, behaviour, habits, voice and habitat. This is referred to as ‘jizz’. However, relying on jizz for identification presents a problem – it requires prior experience or a reference for comparison. The ‘Photographic Field To Australian Frogs’ overcomes this limitation by providing detailed comparative photos of key identification characters. For those less familiar with frogs, a ‘dichotomous key’ is provided to quickly identify genus or groups of similar looking frogs. Like so much else in the book, this key is illustrated using in-life examples. In contrast to other published frog guides the book provides individualised distribution maps depicting geographical features which separate similar taxa such as rivers, mountains, or towns. These maps are supported by detailed text documenting when similar species overlap, abut or even areas where hybrids have been recorded. And for those taxa where call is vital parameters are provided such as dominant frequency, pulse rate, pulses per note and the number of notes per call. Overall, this book is a field guide to Australian frogs unlike any other. Wonderfully detailed, extensively comparative, superbly illustrated and, most notably, useful for identifying Australian frogs. The ‘Photographic Field Guide To Australian Frogs’ is available from early June. To find out more or order your copy please visit: https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7951/ he ‘Photographic Field Guide to Australian Frogs’ T aims to provide a detailed and wonderfully Mark G Sanders is professional field naturalist, illustrated guide for adult frog identification. Frogs can ecologist, and fauna surveyor with more than 25 years be subtly different and often lack consistent features for of experience. He is a well-known wildlife identification. Species recognition may require gaining an photographer and currently runs an environmental overall impression or appearance based on a variety of consultancy conducting surveys across Australia FrogCall 173 P4 June 2021 FERAL SPECIES MOVE INTO particular environments and can’t cover the range that feral UNBURNT REFUGES AFTER FIRES animals do. The unassuming Ewing Morass wetland, east of Bairnsdale, n the years leading up to the recent huge bushfires, is a haven for rare and endangered frogs, and its residents I park rangers in East Gippsland hadn’t been able to include the martins toadlet, green and golden bell frog, the locate a small, ground-dwelling frog known as a martins leaf green tree frog, and the blue mountain tree frog. It has toadlet, which is critically-endangered. After a long become an important refuge for species displaced by the drought there were no pools on the grounds, no frogs calling 2019-20 fires.
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