One of my favourite things to do in nature is to just sit and listen, whether it be to hear the birds singing, a lion calling in the distance or even the exciting possibility of hearing impalas alarming at a leopard.
And now with all the recent rain we have had a whole new orchestra of sounds is present in the evenings: frogs.
Unlike the birds, lions, impalas and leopard which are regularly seen, frogs are mostly heard rather, so myself and fellow ranger Kirst Joscelyne decided to change that up a bit and try our hand at frogging.
A Painted Reed Frog, one of the species of frogs found here at Londolozi.
The easiest way to track down frogs is by their call, so it is best to go at night when they are most vocal.
A frog will have many calls; for mating, territory, to signal release and a distress call, but the call that we mostly hear is the mating call made by the males to attract a female.
The female will select a male based on the volume or frequency of his call as well as the call site, and the reason why his call is so loud for such a small creature is because the sound is amplified in a thin-walled vocal sac. Males will establish choruses – kind of like a frog call time-sharing – so that the sound is orchestrated to enhance their effectiveness and this is what we hear when we drive past a waterhole.
Summer is breeding time for frogs, and tadpoles are abounding in almost every small pan.
Kirst and I set out armed with our torches to find the perfect spot to do some frogging.
Just finding a spot wasn’t as easy as we thought, as for some reason all the waterholes we had in mind were either dead quiet or had a crocodile in them and neither of us were too keen to get eaten that night.
We eventually settled for a series of mud wallows where the sound of the frogs were almost deafening and there were no crocodiles. At least we hoped.
Not long after we got there we found our first specimen; a Plain Grass Frog, shortly followed by the Sharp-Nosed Grass Frog.
At this stage we thought this whole frogging thing was going to be a breeze. That thought was short-lived as the next frog we found I had to take my shoes off and wade right out into knee-deep water just to attempt to get a good view. Finding the beautiful Golden Leaf-folding Frog was well worth me stumbling through the mud and coming out a lot less clean then when I went in.
Golden Leaf-folding Frog
After a while of searching and no new species, we decided to head to slightly larger waterhole where we could already hear the chorus of Bubbling Kassinas (their call sounds very much like bubbling water). We could hear a herd of elephants not too far away so I made a quick dash to where I heard one particularly loud Kassina calling and managed to get a short view of him sticking just its head out the water.
We decided to call it quits as the elephants were suddenly getting a bit too close for comfort.
A Bubbling Kassina peaking out at us.
Although we didn’t find as many frogs as we had hoped, we have definitely learnt a thing of two about trying to catch them, one being to make sure to wear old clothes and have a pair of wellington boots at the ready.
And keep your sense of humour, because a flounder into the mud is almost inevitable!
Lovely blog Tayla. I love the call if yhe Bubbling Kassinas. The first time we’ve heard them was at Londolozi on drive with Kate Imri. I have got a question. Is the painted reed frog the rain frog as we call it in the Lowveld. Or is it another name for a Bubbling Kassina?
Beautiful photo of the Golden Leaf-folding Frog! They are so tiny.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=golden+leaf+folding+frog&docid=608016998516526273&mid=976BEAD603C7F57AD662976BEAD603C7F57AD662&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
Tayla, I loved all the frogs, I saved the frog reed, and I saved the frog with sac🤗
Great tory and great pictures !
Very nice post it made me smile. And very interesting
Love frogs. Always knew when the rains would start as the frogs in our neighbour’s pond would burst into a nightly chorus the night before. Now in the UK I am always delighted when I discover a frog or toad in my flowerpots. Thanks for this post.
Thanks Tayla! Your post was as humorous as it was interesting, the the photos are wonderful!
That must have been fun, torches in hand, frogging and not knowing what you’ll find. Great job finding the Golden Leaf folding frog- the photo is awesome! Looking forward to hearing about your next adventures.
Taylor, what a fun story and adventure. It must’ve been a challenge to find spots to see them safely, especially, as you mentioned, with those pesky crocodiles in many of the waterholes! Thanks for educating us about the sounds they make. Quite interesting!
A cheerful blog to start my day Tayla ❤️ some super photos considering your muddy ordeal ! Miss the sound of frogs at night but brings back many happy memories of doing much the same as a child. 🙏😊
Hi Tayla! Loved to read your blog about frogs! Beautiful pictures! Brave of you to go out to the Golden Leaf-folding Frog! Thank you for sharing!
That sounds like great fun!