All-species Frog Survey for Cairns

One of the ways to find out how far the local decline in frogs has progressed is to do a comprehensive survey. Cairns is a large area but in 2001, we were able to gain some funding and in-kind support to conduct a street by street survey of the part of Cairns from Palm Cove to Gordonvale. However, 'mother nature' decided not to cooperate and the worst drought in at least 100 years started. We did not get a wet season in 2001 or 2002 and the drought broke in 2003. In the meantime, a new respiratory disease turned up which we are convinced is a result of the drought and that has impacted frog (and toad) numbers even further. We learned in doing a small scale survey that volunteers weren't prepared to be out that late at night and the changing crime rate in Cairns meant that there were safety issues. We decided that people wandering the streets at night wasn't the best idea.

In December 2004, we bought an entire page in a local newspaper and used it to present a survey form for residents to complete and post in to us. Although we were hoping for a return of about 1,000 forms (for a population of over 120,000, this was a very reasonable expectation). The form was very simple to fill out but only 300 replies came back. Students at James Cook University will be analysing the forms for us but we're not sure which semester this will take place.

Anyone anywhere can accummulate information about frogs in their areas for scientific purposes or just to learn what species are around your area. One of the most reliable methods is to record frog calls during the breeding season. Although this only provides the numbers of males that are breeding age, it is still better than no survey at all.

You don't have to see a frog at all to be able to identify it. If you can get close enough to point a hand-held tape recorder at the calling frog and get the sound on tape, the species can be identified. If you would like to participate in surveying, this is how to make a tape of calls that we can add to our database:

1. use can use any type of tape recorder that uses normal size tapes (like the music tapes you can buy at the shop) - we don't have the equipment to handle microtapes or reels
2. when you begin using a tape, speak into the tape recorder and provide your name, your mailing address, and your phone number; then let the tape run for about 30 seconds of silence so that there is a little space before the first frog call recording
3. before you start recording the calling frogs, speak into the tape and say the date, time and the exact location where this recording is being done, for example, you might provide a street address or you might say that the frogs are located on the Something-or-other School grounds, behind the basketball court and in the creek which is about 50 metres away from the court - if it is not a street address, be specific enough so that we can pinpoint the location on a map; also give a brief description of the weather conditions while you are recording and what the weather was like during the day - if you have access to statistics like the exact temperature or humidity levels, include them
4. be sure that you can get as close as you can without disturbing the frogs and hold the microphone out towards the sound - if the recording isn't clear enough, it won't be any good; let the recorder get at least four minutes of sound on it before moving on to the next location
5. after each recording, turn the volume all the way down or cover the microphone with a folded tea towel and let the machine record about 30 seconds of silence before starting the next recording (don't forget to turn the volume back up before the next recording!)
6. when you are ready to do the next recording which might be from another spot on the same night or a different night, speak into the recorder again to provide the date, time, location and weather description; record at least four minutes of calls and then 30 seconds of silence; this can be repeated over time until you fill up the tape or you can send in the tape at any time
7. be sure that the tape is never allowed to get close to a mobile phone at any time - mobiles emit a lot of magnetic waves and these will erase or scramble what's on the tape (the same applies to computer floppy disks); a good way to protect the tape is to keep it wrapped in aluminum foil until you are ready to record and replace it in the foil after recording; keep the tape wrapped in foil when you post it to us so that postal x-ray machines and other people's mobile phones don't damage the recordings in transit

If you want the tape returned to you with a report to say what species were recorded on it, then please also include a self addressed, padded envelope with $3 worth of postage on it. Alternatively, you can just include $4 to cover the envelope and postage. If you don't want the tape back but you would like to know what species were on it, just send us your email address and we'll email you the information.

Tapes can be posted to us at P.O. Box 958, Manunda, FNQ 4870

Last edited: March 9th, 2006