Things to watch for

["Peter Ormay" <>]

Hi Geoff,

Indeed there was something restraining the frog's foot. I asked someone to hold it while I photographed the beautifull blue flash in it's groin. I had a couple of other photos of it without restraint, one of which I had given to WO but it was lost in the '03 bushfire (together with his house) in Duffy. L&O chose to use the one with the blue flash visible because it is diagnostic for one of the three frog species that are often called Green and Golden Bell Frogs that used to occur in the ACT and region i e Litoria castanea, L. aurea and L. raniformis. The frog in the photo was the last confirmed sighting of any those three species in the region and was photographed in the Shannons Flat area around 1976 just outside the southern tip of the ACT. A remnant population of L. aurea has been discovered I believe in the Captains Flat area in recent years.

 

Herons, bitterns, ibises, ducks and most other water birds eat frogs and tadpoles if they can catch them. I hope they don't wipe out the little Captains Flat Litoria aurea population.