Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells
Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Thursday, February 17, 2011

All this effort to build a new home for a Peron's Tree Frog

Is this intended to be a new home for a Peron's Tree Frog?
Well Brendan and I didn't think so, when we were working on it yesterday. We thought we were removing the old (very old) weatherboard cladding, insulating the wall, in anticipation of re-cladding the wall with new HardiPlank cladding (weatherboard replacements).


But this frog knew what it liked. 
A large green sheet offering 
wonderful protection from prying eyes
- until we disturbed it.
Peron's Tree Frog on the side of my house (being repaired)
The Frog had snuck in over night, and Brendan found it the next morning, safely tucked out of sight behind the green "sarking". The frog climbed out from behind the sarking when I tried to photograph it in the hidey-hole it had found.


Incidentally, if you click to enlarge the image, you will see (just see) why this frog is sometimes called the "Emerald-spotted tree Frog". Hardly a distinctive feature when one can just make out the tiny spots, with a close-up image. The name Peron's Tree Frog (Litoria peroni) works or me.

 Here is a close-up of his left hind foot and one of his front toes.
Tree Frogs have these amazing toes, with large pads
which allow them to climb so well - even on glass.
Hind foot of Peron's Tree Frog
Here is a close-up of the distinctive eye
It always appears to have a cross-cut mark in the pupil.
My Blogging colleague Martin has written
a brief but observant post about the eye of this species.
Note the ear and eye of Peron's Tree Frog

Clearly it could not safely stay hanging on to the wall during the day. And we needed to do some more renovation and refurbishment work. So I tried to persuade it to move, which it did, by jumping down to the ground.  Then it hopped quickly away into the safety of the dense cover of shrubbery of my garden.
 Just for the record, this is how the wall looked after the day's work.
New cladding over a fibre-glass insulated wall, 
with "sarking" for additional weather-proofing. 
"Sarking must be impermeable to liquid moisture
yet still allow the free flow of water vapour 
from the inner surface of the cladding".
The new HardiPlanks are then freshly painted.
For those patient readers who have been following the gradual development of my home renovations, we are now on the final wall, and ought be finished the actual "construction phase" shortly.


6 comments:

Keith said...

I love frogs. Frogs are a sign of a healthy environment, and we have a lot of "noisy" frogs in the garden!
Good post, thank you. Great images.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/

Denis Wilson said...

Yes, I agree.
Frogs always attract my interest. Amazing creatures, and they do indicate a healthy environment, event though they sometimes live in unusual and messy surrounds.
.
I found one of these guys inside a covered and sealed Trailer-load full of rubbish, once. But it seemed happy there. Clearly the "load" was not as well sealed as I liked to think.
.
You are doing something right if you are surrounded by Frogs.

Cheers
Denis

mick said...

Hi Denis, I wonder if the frog sang you a froggy "lullaby" last night or is it not one of the 'noisy' frogs? You are doing a great job on your house. A few years ago - well to be truthful a good few years ago!! - I put similar cladding on my house with the help of my family. It was a long and slow job and I wondered at times if we would ever get it finished!

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Mick.
This one was not noisy, but I know some are. It actually has yet another name - the "Maniacal Cackle Frog". There is a sound file on the link under Litoria peroni (see text above). But I don't find it offensive.
Glad you understand the need for patience with house renovations. A fellow sufferer, eh?
At least your system obviously worked. I am very confident that this will too.
Cheers
Denis

Gaye said...

Hello Denis,

I love frogs too, and as I clean up my new yard and establish a garden, I too am finding frogs, including the Perons Tree Frog, and having to relocate them. It's wonderful to know that they are already inhabiting my new garden.

I have passed on my love of and respect for wildlife to my 9yo grand-daughter (from day one), and she was telling me yesterday that she is often relocating frogs in the bubblers at school, and even from her classroom. As she does so, she is teaching other students (and teachers) how to care about frogs etc.

I can remember when she was about 2 years old saving frogs that had plopped into holes in my backyard that were too deep for burrowing frogs to climb out of.

Great post, Denis.

Cheers,
Gaye

Denis Wilson said...

Thanks Gaye
Any friend of frogs is a friend of mine!
By the way, I believe it is our duty to train the littlies - from day 1 - to love Nature.
Cheers
Denis