An hour before dawn in arid WA

Full Episode description

No music. No human voices. Just the sound of a frog chorus and a pre-dawn rain shower in arid Western Australia, recorded on location by the ABC’s Dr Ann Jones. 

Get in a car in Perth and drive 4 hours northeast to sit beside a pool of water as the frogs call and rain rolls in. It’s an hour before dawn.

This soundscape was recorded on Badimaya country on Charles Darwin Reserve which is owned by Bush Heritage Australia. I was there to film an amazing tree called the sandalwood for ‘Australia’s Favourite Tree’ on ABC TV. The reserve is on the edge of the Southwest Botanical Province, which has more plant biodiversity that a tropical forest, and also the arid Eremean areas. And because it’s on the borderlands, there are so many plants, animals, birds, and in this recording in particular amphibians to love.

00:00:00 The first thing that you hear is the Western Toadlets — Pseudophryne occidentalis. At least, this is the best guess without a DNA sample. You see, this area is in the overlap between two different types of toadlets which sound EXTREMELY similar.

They’re not toads, they’re toadlets, and very happy with the amount of water around by the sound of it.

Listening notes from Ann Jones:

00:02:40 The first of many microbat flybys in this recording. You can hear the echolocation clicks as the bats zoom past searching for food. That is, you’ll hear them unless you are a little bit older, or have some hearing impairment at the higher frequencies, then you’ll not be able to hear the bats, which sit at about 11500khz and above.

00:07:05 To be honest, I’m not sure who this bird is, but my gut feeling tells me they’re disturbed a bit by something rather than the true start of the dawn chorus. The clicking, sort of tapping sound is soft rain hitting the microphones.

00:09:00 No wonder the frogs are calling. Here comes the rain.

00:49:30 Who dipped into the water? Or perhaps crapped into the water from above?

01:05:10 If you’re a person lucky enough to still hear those high frequencies, you can hear the hunting buzz here as the bat zeros in on a flying insect to eat.

01:07:00 A couple of insects, or maybe just one joins in the chorus. There’s one sound that constantly jiggles, and one that pulses. It is perhaps a cricket and or a cicada.

01:14:20 is this the real start of the dawn chorus from the birds? Or perhaps just a rustling in the pre-dawn.

01:34:50 A smattering of rain drops. Do the toadlets sound happier or is it just me?

01:52:40 A willy wagtail announces its time to get up and start the true bird chorus of the morning. There’s also a spiny-cheeked honeyeater in there.

Thanks to Dr Elliot Leach and Dr Jodi Rowley for helping me confirm what I was hearing.