Tonight is the reason it is called a “RAIN”forest. The intensity of the rain was unbelievable, not to mention the torrential downpour also sustained itself for hours. Yet with warm summer rains come anurans. The cacophony of the tree frog chorus was deafening at times, with at least 3 different species calling from the same ephemeral pools. The largest and most abundant tree frog was the Northern Orange-eyed Treefrog, often the subject of postcards and the “poster-child” of different wildlife organizations (see picture). Many males were seen calling, and two pairs were actually viewed in amplexus attempting to mate. My inner child was reborn, and I reminisced my younger years of chasing Carpenter Frogs in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey as I sloshed around an Australian pool some 15 years later for nearly the same purpose. And while I retire to my bed soaked to the bone, I cannot help but smile as my tub of new roommates call incessantly still with their “waarks” and “pirrs”, a sound I will take anytime over the traffic of the civilization.
