I popped out in to the misty air ...

... to hang out some towels, 100% linen towels as it happens, but more about them later.
I went out and thought I'd just check on the taddie annex. We'd moved the first crop of taddies to a larger pot, with more sun you see. Leaving the first pot empty.
And then it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rain, and that small pot filled up with beautiful, clean rain water.
Frogs it appears, like nature, hate a vacuum and so we are the proud custodians of two tadpole nurseries.
Anyway, I like to check in on the little swimmers, so I did, only to find a fully-metamorphosized version peeking up at me.Cheeky begger. I have a horrible feeling he wasn't visiting but snacking on his little brothers and sisters (or, perish the thought, children!).Still, I finally had a chance to photograph the bugger and confirm, for myself, our back yard frogs are indeed Striped Marsh Frogs. (You can click a link to hear one singing in that link.)Finally having the chance to get a proper close up look also made me realise how much like my Omas Milord Bronze Arco our froggies are in colouring. I knew there was a reason I was drawn to that pen.

Meet Loudy McNoisypants ....

.... A cicada, he camped in our lemon tree last night, directly outside the open back door.
The noise was incredible. When I stepped directly into the sound wave my ears hurt.
So, I found him, introduced myself and entered relocation negotiations. That is I picked him up and moved him onto the Maple tree at the bottom of the garden.
He even sang a little while sitting on my hand, my whole arm thrummed with the sound. In other news I was lucky enough to see one of last year's tadpoles emerge, a fully formed wee froglet last evening. About the size of my thumbnail, shiny, dark with the hint of a stripe. We think this pretty much confirms our identification of the local frogs as Striped Marsh Frogs.
And now, despite the bushfire danger (winks) our leaf litter will be undisturbed, so tiny frogs may hide and keep cool. Who wants a tidy garden anyway?
Not me.

A post or 2 or 3 ago ...

... Zoomie asked for a bit of an update on various odds & bobs.
The furry girls are just fine and dandy. Full of beans and growing their winter coats, so, plush and lovely. The taddies, there's not as many as we started with. I hope they aren't eating their siblings. No sign of any legs yet and still with tails attached. And, even if it wasn't requested, some Autumn in the Garden news.
The Camellias are coming out. As always the Fried Egg Camellia is blooming nicely. And the Hot Pink one is just about to explode into a riot of gaudy colour. And, it looks like a bumper crop for passion fruit is on its way. It was a pretty crap one last year, since we'd had to put in new vines. This season there's dozens of big pendulous green fruit, just sitting there, making sugar inside.Perhaps our Small is helping things along this time.

Mrs Spider's tiny, hairy husband ....

.... he's GONE!
There's a new, crumpled blob in the web, that looks a little spider like.
I think Mrs Spider may have exsanguinated her consort.
Oooo.
In other news, the taddies remain, uneaten and still utterly legless.

Frog Identification ...

... we think we've got it.
Extensive (ehemm) research leads us to believe the Brown-Mouse House frogs are Striped Marsh Frogs (Limmodynastes Peroni).
If you scroll down you can hear the clinching evidence.

The tadpoles are still there ...

... but don't look any different, still black blops with tails.
So, today I'll introduce you to some more of our back garden beasties.

The Skinks.I've been trying for years to get good shots of these little chaps. They are very shy and skittish. Possibly because ever cat we've ever owned has made it her life's mission to kill and eat as many of them as possible. Still, lately they've become quite bold and just stay there while I click away with Rupert.

This may be because it's been a while since a cat has been allowed to prowl their territory, or because it's been warm and sunny and they are stupefied with the heat.

This little fellow has clearly lost and regrown his tail

No matter, I got some nice closeups yesterday and got to watch a skink spot, hunt, catch and then reject a bit of white fluff. It was, I think, a bit of bird down from the nestlings above.

I think our skinks are Pale-flecked Garden Sunskink, (Lampropholis guichenoti)

Their bright eyes, long elegant toes and beautiful copper and brown scales are a joy to behold.
It's hard to imagine they are the descendants of dinosaurs.

Frog watch day 6 ...

... I was preparing myself, at 1:30am, to post some sad news of the nature-is-a-bitch variety.
You see, I woke at 1am because of pounding rain, it was in sheets, literally a deluge. A mad, half-asleep, rush was made to close all the windows. Too late, it had poured in, wetness abounded. And, as happens every-so once-in-a-while, water made its way into the dining room, down the wall.
Once the mop-up was done, damage control under control, I worried about the tadpoles that hatched only yesterday. So much water was pounding down on the pond, they were sure to be washed out, into the garden.
It was too wet and too dark to go see and there'd be nothing I could do to save them anyway.
But this morning I found that NO, they had survived! They, or a great many of them, managed to stay put and are wriggling most delightfully.
Nibbling at algae and, I suspect, the remains of their spawn and possibly their unfertilized brothers and sisters.Mr Brown has agreed to set up some sort of bird barrier, as we now suspect the other tadpole crop may have ended up as avian snack food.Not this lot though, not if we can help it. I want to hear that gentle "bok, bok, bok" for years to come.
In other news, our next door neighbours, those of the painting and path sagas, told us yesterday that they'd sold their house and were moving.
They were made an offer they could not refuse, an offer of $1.2 million dollars.
I am gobsmacked. Truly, if we moved here today we simply couldn't.

News just in ...

... Frog Watch Day 5.
TADPOLES!
More (pictures) to come tomorrow.

Frog watch day 4 ...

... no change.
The little buggers are just pissing about aren't they?

Frog watch day 3 ...

... too dark to take a photo when we got home.
Still the foam pad has shrunk a bit more, it seems to be collapsing into the water beneath it.
No wrigglers spotted yet.

Frog watch day 3 ...

... the foam pad has shrunk and uncrisped.The little black dots are still there and there's no wriggling yet.
Mummy bird is all tucked up with the babies.And dad, well he makes hanging and bringing in the washing a dangerous sport. Here's the bugger keeping an eye on me, just waiting for his next chance to swoop.

Frog watch, day 2 ...

... the foam has gone all cellophane-y.
Become firmer and silvery.I touched it, gently, if felt like crusted milk foam.

In other news, the Noisy Miner parents are back, they've built a nest in a branch than hangs over our backyard. It's quite securely tied on this year.I can hear the tiny peepings of nestlings from in there.

Froggy update ...

... they disappeared, the tadpoles.
I'm hoping they grew legs and hopped away in a matter of days, but I suspect not.
Last weekend Mr Brown & I went out to make them some more room in the pond their parents chose. We'd planned to carefully remove the plant and cut away a chunk of the root ball, leaving them with more room to grow & swim. But the taddies weren't there.
We'd been vigilant about topping up the water every day, but that was generally at night, when we couldn't see much. So who knows how long they'd been gone.
I do hope nothing ate them.
Still, we did the trim anyway, since the plant was due for it, topped up the water and wandered, sadly, back inside.
This morning, after angrily confronting selfish dog owners outside the markets (not something I generally do, but 10 minutes of near-constant, high-pitched barking drove me to it) I wandered out back for some calm time.
Mr Brown suggested I take a look at the "frog bowl". Looks like some loved-up frogs have been busy in the garden.Happy.

That was quick ...

... I popped outside today, into the surface of the sun heat, to check on our spawn.
Mr Brown had topped up the pond this morning but it's so very hot I thought I'd check the water level.
There was wriggling. My first thought was 'bloody mosquito larvae" but no, it was tadpoles. Dozens and dozens of tiny tadpoles.This made me smile.
The smile, of course, immediately melted and slid of my face, but I did smile. Extreme close up!

Last evening ...

... it was eleventy million degrees hot, so Mr Brown popped out into the backyard to spray some water on the poor hot wilty plants.
I remained inside, where it was only eleventy thousand degrees hot.
But then he called me to come outside, "quickly, come look at this".
"No way, I'm not going out there, bugger off matey boy," was my initial response.
"No, really Mouse, come look, it's worth it."And so I did and it was.Frogs, frogs that sound like a drip in the pipes, frog have chosen our little blue pot to deposit their spawn.Potential bebe frogs, each and every one.You can rest assured, we'll be monitoring water levels and spawn/tadpole/froglett status, daily.
Ribbet.