"Galump!" said the little brown frog the other day...
About three years ago we had some little pet tadpoles in a fish tank outside. The tadpoles grew, as tadpoles do, into frogs. When they were about 2cms big we released about five of them into the pond at my parents house. Since then, these little frogs have sung to us on summer evenings as we eat our dinner outside in the garden. We are not sure how many frogs we have in our garden. There are at least two because they sing to eachother from different places in the yard, and we know we must have a boy and a girl because we have had more tadpoles since. We know the frogs are there because we hear them but we rarely see them. Sometimes we find them when we are rearranging logs in the garden. It is always so exciting when we find one because then we know they are surviving well. Last week we found this little froggie. I am not sure what kind of frogs mine are but I hope to find out on the Frogs Australia Network site. They have grown so much bigger now!

The frog population is in sad decline in Sydney and indeed the world, some say:

THANKS to our living habits, we may soon live in a world devoid of frogs and their amphibious friends.

Fifty international amphibian experts have predicted a mass extinction of the world's frogs, toads and salamanders due largely to rising pollution levels, climatic change and a killer fungal disease - with its effect being felt in Sydney.

This is one of the reasons we chose to nurture these little frogs in the first place. I like that our garden is a little well functioning ecosystem. In a world where frog populations are under such threat, I am pleased to have a few little frogs living in my garden. I hope we can help them before they croak.

UPDATE: I discovered that our little frogs are of the Limnodynastes peronii variety.
Family: Myobatrachidae
Common names: Striped Marshfrog; Brown-striped Frog; Brown Frog

They are not endangered - Yay! - but this doesn't make them any less special. You can hear my frog's call here. These frogs sound like little dripping taps. It's very cute.