Surprise guests: John McKellar walked out his back door on Wednesday morning to find a sudden influx of frogs in buckets and his pool.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
As a long-serving doctor in Mooroopna and Shepparton of almost five decades John McKellar saw a lot, but he got a surprise when he walked out his back door on the morning of Wednesday, January 18.
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There were frogs in his dog’s water bucket, frogs in his pool and frogs in his pool filter.
“I opened up the back door and there’s all these frogs and I thought, ‘That’s strange. They didn’t knock on the door or anything,’” he said.
Dr McKellar is at a loss as to why the frogs suddenly turned up in his and his neighbours’ backyards, but he has his theories.
“Maybe it’s to do with politics? Or maybe it’s just to do with God?” he said.
Then there is the possibility the fierce storm the night before had something to do with it.
“The rain was very heavy and maybe that was the sound of frogs dropping on the roof,” he said.
Frog without togs: John McKellar and his neighbours discovered dozens of frogs in their pools and pool filters on Wednesday morning.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Frog invasion: Mooroopna resident John McKellar with one of the frogs he found in his backyard.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
River Connect is a program that encourages people to have a love of and connection to the river environment.
River Connect project officer Ali White said the frogs found at Dr McKellar’s home seemed to be spotted marsh frogs, among other species as well.
“After a big weather event they breed up and you get this explosion of breeding,” she said.
“They’re generally well tied to a wet environment and lay from 80 up to 500 eggs on a floating foam near water.
“When it rains the atmosphere has more moisture so their predators are less active and they’ll get moving.”
Miss White said the midweek storm would be why the frogs began appearing in people’s pools and backyards.
“(It was) Ideal conditions for them to get around and move across areas they might normally not because of the risk of dehydration,” she said.
Miss White has encouraged people to download the FrogID app, which records frog calls and helps scientists understand what species are in different areas.
Dr McKellar has lived in the family home that backs on to the Goulburn River flood plain since he was a child, so another possibility is that frog numbers have increased rapidly due to the floods and perhaps the rain that fell during Tuesday night’s storm has encouraged them to get on the move.
Whether it be politics, God, the flood or the storm, their sudden appearance will not have Dr McKellar considering certain measures for their removal.
