Friday 16 September 2011

Barking up the wrong tree?!


Not surprisingly, the barking tree intrigued us.  Erin and I had speculated for several days as to the source of the barking.  We each had attempted to sneak up and identify the culprit, without success.  The very dry vegetation crackled underfoot and whenever we got too close to the tree, the barking stopped. 

If you play the short video, you can hear the noise (about 5 seconds after the start) - just once.  (You can also hear some of the bird-song we listened to while at camp).  In reality, the barking was fairly evenly spaced and reasonably constant.  By the fourth day of our stay, it definitely seemed that the noise was louder and occurred more often.

The barking seemed far more urgent that evening and I tried another sneak on the tree.  I could see many ants running down a small hollow branch and as I watched a green head emerged.  Before I had fully identified the creature, it looked over and then made a huge leap to me! 

The fat, green frog was distressed by the ants, so I carried him/her over to Erin for a quick "bath" and subsequent relocation to the nearby jade bush.  (Many frogs had been located to a huge jade bush during our Christmas/New Year stay at Yowah in Louie's shack).

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