# Byron Bay Hinterland



## spongebob (Dec 29, 2009)

Before Christmas I dragged the family off for a week in Northern NSW. While there I managed to do a little night searching in the nearby National Park. Here's a few photos. I'm hoping I can get some ID's on a couple of frogs.

Firstly a barred frog. Could this be M.fleayi? We were certainly in the right area. We moved several off the road. it was very dry but a little humid this night.







In the nearby creek some morphs were making land fall.






which attracted the attention of a small eyed snake






Further on were lots of red eyed tree frogs






and can someone ID these?






On the way back were lots of King Crickets which really freaked my teenage children! 






The best part though was this water hole just 200meters from were we stayed. 






At 6.30pm every night these guys came out to play.










Pure magic.

Bob


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## PhilK (Dec 29, 2009)

Woah.. amazing. Never seen a platypus in the wild before mate, you're very lucky!

Thanks for the great photos, sorry I'm no help with IDs.


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## Weezer (Dec 29, 2009)

Wow- great pics- so rare to see Plattys in the wild- let alone in the light. beautiful


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## Weezer (Dec 29, 2009)

oops sorry phil beat me to it.


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## redbellybite (Dec 29, 2009)

Excellent ...


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## jinin (Dec 29, 2009)

To me that yellow frog looks like a Whirring Tree Frog: Litoria Revelata
The First frog is a: Southern Barred Frog: Mixophyes Balbus


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## wiz-fiz (Dec 29, 2009)

wow, ur so lucky 2 have seen plattypus in the wild, great fotos, that king cricket is creepy.


Will


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## GeckoJosh (Dec 29, 2009)

Nice one Bob
I love that L.chloris
U are very luck to see a platy let alone get photos
Did you see any geckos?


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## jamesf55 (Dec 29, 2009)

nice pics Bob, the mixophyes might be fleayi though I am not good with frogs, its either them or just the normal fasciolatus, dont think there balbus but I might be wrong they all do look similar, the other frog is a litoria wilcoxi or stoney creek frog. the small eyed has a chunky head aswell, see much else?


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## mrmikk (Dec 29, 2009)

Fantastic pics, well done!


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## jamesf55 (Dec 29, 2009)

might add, balbus have blue on the upper eye which is why I dont think it is that, I could not tell the difference between fleayi and fasciolatus someone like froggyboy86 (Aaron) will know, or nephrurus or eipper.


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## KRONYK94 (Dec 29, 2009)

great pics man u must of had a great time.


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## froggyboy86 (Dec 29, 2009)

Nice photos Bob, its always good to see wild platypus. 

Your Mixophyes spp. is a Great Barred Frog (Mixophyes fasciolatus) - they are pretty common in that area. Quickest way to distinguish M. fasciolatus from fleayi is fleayi has a blue upper iris (brown/orange in fasciolatus) and fasciolatus has no markings on the upper lip whereas fleayi has small bars. 

James is right your yellow frog is a Litoria wilcoxi. I agree those King Crickets are freaky, especially in the middle of the night up some rugged mountainside when one jumps into your boot! 

Aaron


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## spongebob (Dec 29, 2009)

Thanks for your comments.

Thanks for the ID's froggyboy86. I must get an updated frog book. My field guide was published in 1995 and doesn't have L.wilcoxi, and neither does my Cogger!


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## aurea23 (Jan 2, 2010)

They reclassified the Litoria lesueuri complex 

see
CSIRO PUBLISHING - Australian Journal of Zoology


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## mungus (Jan 2, 2010)

nice pic's of the p/pus, any bass in there ?


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## JasonL (Jan 2, 2010)

mungus said:


> nice pic's of the p/pus, any bass in there ?



Just a matter of throwing a few of the barred frogs in the middle on dusk and see if they make it back to shore..


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## froggyboy86 (Jan 2, 2010)

JasonL said:


> Just a matter of throwing a few of the barred frogs in the middle on dusk and see if they make it back to shore..


 
Why use frogs? I can think of a few gecko species which would work just fine... :lol:


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## JasonL (Jan 2, 2010)

froggyboy86 said:


> Why use frogs? I can think of a few gecko species which would work just fine... :lol:



Every good fisho knows frogs make much better bait, there swimming action is hard to replicate...


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## reptilerob (Jan 3, 2010)

Awesome photos. Well done on photographing the platypus. I see a lot of them when im fishing, and find them close to impossible to photograph. As soon as i batter an eyelid, they dissappear under water!!!


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