Image courtesy of Jodi Rowley

Southern Brown Tree Frog

Litoria ewingii

Southern brown tree frogs are a small frog species, growing to about 50mm in length. It can easily be identified by its cream to brown back, white belly and yellow to bright gold thighs.

These agile frogs mostly feed on flying insects such as mosquitos, moths and flies, sometimes leaping and catching their prey mid-air. 

Its calls can be enjoyed throughout the year, however it is most likely heard from June to November when it is peak breeding season. Males will generally call out from the waters edge or on land. Backyard ponds are important to this species, as they lay their eggs in water amongst the vegetation at the surface, in a large mass of up to 600 eggs.  

The natural habitat of southern brown tree frogs are wetlands, grasslands, heaths and farmland. However this species is also found throughout gardens of Victoria and chances are it has visited or currently lives in your own backyard.

Southern brown tree frogs are considered as Least Concern on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation) list as of 2004. 

Cutajar. T. P., Portway, C. D., Gillard, G. L., and Rowley, J. J. L. (2022) Australian Frog Atlas: Fine-scale species distribution maps informed by the FrogID dataset. Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online. 36: 1-48. https://doi.org/10.3853/j.1835-4211.36.2022.1789

How can I encourage frogs to my backyard?

To improve your chances of frogs living and breeding in your backyard, choose appropriate pond fish that will not eat tadpoles or eggs. Fish such as goldfish and other large species will eat frog eggs and tadpoles, so please do your research on which fish species are safe for cohabitating with frogs. Visit our Pond Fish profiles on our Learning Hub for more information about frog and tadpole friendly species.

Improve your chances of attracting and keeping happy frogs in your garden by having plenty of vegetation in and around the pond. Dense vegetation in the pond will give tadpoles protection from predators, and appropriate marginal vegetation will provide adult frogs with ideal habitat. Logs, hollows and caves will also encourage frogs to move in. Visit our Aquatic plant profiles on our Learning Hub to help decide which plants are best for your pond. 

Do not spray weeds with harmful weed killers, this will end up in your pond and in local waterways, which will discourage frogs from living in your area. The health of your drains is the health of your waterways. Remove weeds regularly by hand to retain the health of your pond.

Already have frogs in your area?

Please help the Australian Museum by downloading their FrogID app, where you can record frog calls and submit these and your location through the app! You can download this from the Apple Store or the Google Play Store. 

https://www.frogid.net.au/ 

Image of Southern Brown Tree Frog courtesy of Jodi Rowley.
Map of Australia image showing Southern Brown Tree Frog location used with permission of Museums Australia.

References:

Frog ID, Litoria ewingii, 2022, accessed Jul 04 2022, https://www.frogid.net.au/frogs/litoria-ewingii 

Backyard Buddies, Southern Brown Tree Frog  accessed Jul 04 2022, https://backyardbuddies.org.au/backyard-buddies/southern-brown-tree-frog/