We have been talking about frogs a lot lately. For those who asked, Joshua's presentation of his Frog Report at the school assembly went well, although he did pick his nose throughout the entire song that the class performed after giving their reports. Sigh!
Also to those who asked for more details, yes, the Jesus Christ Frog is a real frog. That's its colloquial name, of course. Steve Parish's Amazing Facts About Australian Frogs & Reptiles, page 13, says:
"The tiny Rockhole Frog of the Kimberley and Arnhem Land, sometimes called the "Jesus Christ" Frog, skitters across water without breaking the surface film. It moves fast, weighs little and skips across the water at a low angle, like a skimming stone."
This evening we returned home from dinner with some friends from church to find a frog at our doorstep!
We have been listening attentively to the Frog Chorus from the canal next-door each evening, and mostly hear Western Banjo Frogs. The Banjo Frog call is an easily recognisable "Plonk!" or, as Anna described it in her frog report, "Bop!"
Yesterday was the first time I have heard a Motorbike Frog, although we hear them a lot at the farm in Albany, and we have caught and raised Motorbike Frog tadpoles. The Motorbike Frog call is also quite distinctive. It sounds like a small motorbike revving up to change gears.
Close up, it was clear to see that our visitor was a Motorbike Frog. The kids were all very excited to see a large frog up close, since we have mostly been observing tadpoles lately. We should start to see some of our tadpoles growing legs now that the weather is warming up. (We have a smaller aquarium with them here at home as well as the one at Joshua's school.)
Mr Frog was even so kind as to pose rather nicely against a concave corner of our brick wall. Well, unless you interpret his movements to indicate that he was trying to avoid being trampled upon by four young children. Sensible frog!
Anna's report on Frogs is below. She dictated it on Monday and then we spent much of Tuesday morning listening to frog calls online. Abigail and Samuel were just as keen as Anna to listen to cluster around the computer desk and listen intently while I clicked through photos on the ALCOA Frog Watch site for the Swan Coastal Plain.
The Story of Frogs
By Anna
Frogs catch small, teeny-tiny fish with their sticky tongues. Some frogs eat other frogs. Snakes eat frogs.
Frogs use their teeth for holding food in place in their mouths. They can use their front feet to push food into their mouths.
Frogs can breathe and drink through their skin.
Rocket Frogs have long legs that are very strong. They can hop very fast and far.
Some frogs live in the ground in burrows. Other frogs live in trees and are called Tree Frogs.
Tree Frogs sleep in the day and wake up in the night. At night they make their noises, calling for other frogs.
Long-footed Frogs make a noise that sounds like the moo from a cow.
Banjo Frogs go “Bop!” There are Banjo Frogs living near our house, in the water in the creek.
Frogs lay eggs in water. The eggs hatch into tadpoles. The tadpoles grow back legs, then front legs, then their tail goes away and they become frogs.
12/21: International Chiasmus Day
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8 comments:
Joshua,
I'm so glad to hear that your frog report at the assembly went very well.
Anna,
Your report really shows how much you've learned about frogs. I didn't know about Banjo Frogs or Motorbike frogs. What a surprise to find a Motorbike frog right on your doorstep.
We have more toads around our place than frogs, although sometimes in particularly wet weather they do show up in the yard. I sure think it is interesting to read about frogs and toads, but I prefer seeing them in pictures to seeing them near my door! When I was a young woman, before I was married, I had a toad hop in my front door, hop all the way across my apartment's living room, and hide under my desk. I really wished I had my dad around to help me get that thing out of my apartment! I still remember the feeling of it hopping inside the paper shopping bag I caught him in. It made me shiver every time!
Once, when we lived in Darwin and Joshua was very little, a Green Tree Frog jumped from a fence near the spa onto Joshua's face! It gave him a huge fright, but all the adults (we were at Joshua's uncle and aunt's house) thought it was hilariously funny. The frog was almost as big as Joshua's cheek. Green Tree Frogs are smooth and cool and pleasant to touch, not bumpy or slimy. We saw - and heard - lots and lots of them in Darwin, but mostly not inside.
The first set of tadpoles we raised here in Perth were very small as frogs. I didn't find out what type they were, but they were small enough to sit in our children's palms before they hopped off into the garden.
The scariest thing my parents have ever found inside their home was only a few years back. Mum came home to find a giant snake (a water python, not actually dangerous). The python was curled up in her toilet bowl! The strangest thing about this was where my Mum & Dad live: in a fifth floor apartment!
~ Sharon
Oh my! It must have slithered up through the sewer system into the toilet? I've heard of that happening. "A water python, not actually dangerous." Maybe, but it would have still given me a terrible fright! That's much worse than a silly toad.
Did you know we don't have indigenous toads in Australia? We only have the cane toad, which was introduced to Australia, and is a terrible feral pest now, spreading across the tropical north and killing many indigenous animals with its poison. So whenever the word "toad" is mentioned, Australians have a very negative reaction.
~ Sharon
And I just remembered, Grandpa gave the kids some very memorable gifts one year. I can't remember if they were from Vietnam or Indonesia (he works overseas). Three frog purses: one green, one red, one blue. The purses are made from cured frog skin! The little heads seemed quite hideous to me at first, with their plastic goggle eyes stuck in. But I have warmed to them, and now we are using two of them to keep game pieces and dice in. I still think they are bizarre every time I see them.
~ Sharon
All this talk of frogs and snakes reminds me of the time when my husband and I spent six weeks up in Wickham, having a go at running the church, during the summer holidays when we were studying at Trinity.
I became very adept at catching the tiny frogs who came to visit in the shower and toilet, very carefully collecting them in a glass and then taking them outside to the nice shady garden. My record was six in one day.
And then there was the snake that appeared on the doorstep one day. Don't know what sort of snake it was. But it was a snake! When we rang the snake man he told us he was on holidays in Mandurah. "So you're not coming to collect our snake then?"
"Nope!"
So I hid inside being a chicken while brave husband shooed him off by squirting him with a hose.
Two city slickers! Although I thought I was quite brave about the frogs!!
Wow! The things people do and the places they go for the sake of Christ!
I never would have thought of getting rid of a snake with a hose. I seem to remember my aunt shooing a snake out of her kitchen with a broom once. But the idea of using water is very inventive.
~ Sharon
The greater sacrifice in that visit was the five days without airconditioning when it was taken out by a storm generated by a cyclone further up the coast. I've never felt so hot! And that was in the days before I was reliant on air conditioners!!
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