Well, the Rain God gave us two days to mow and clean up before re-commencing daily thunderstorms. I’m not complaining though. The garden is fresh and green and full of birdlife – lorikeets, king parrots, catbirds, galahs, honeyeaters, bower birds and more. I’ve even had a few wild ducks wandering around looking for snails and slugs in the grass. Which is why I nearly missed a big event …
Three nights ago I heard a quiet “quack quack” coming from somewhere in the garden. Thinking it was a duck, I ignored it. The second night, the same thing. Then last night my curiosity got the better of me, and out I went with camera and torch to see what this duck was doing when it was supposed to be sleeping!
Strangely, no ducks, and for a while no “quacks” either. So I sat down in the wet grass and waited … and after a few minutes, from the leaf litter behind me came a “quack quack”. I turned to discover one of the frogs on my wish list, a Great Barred Frog.
The Great Barred Frog is a cousin to the Giant Barred Frog which is endangered, although spotted in the lagoons in North Bellingen. They both like the same habitat, and my pond doesn’t exactly fit the description, which is why I wasn’t expecting it to turn up. That’s frog species number NINE !!
A Bellingen Diary 