just a few days ago, friends of the family told me that there was a strange-sounding toad in their “swimming pond” (swimming pool & pond, all at once): “it sounds very much like a cricket.”
it turned out to be a european green toad (bufo viridis; wechselkröte), an endangered species of toad (bufonidae), whose “warbling” callings are often confused with cricket sounds (see video).
anyway – last night, i drove over to their place to check it out myself – and i spent more than an hour at their pond, watching and listening how two males competed.
the most amazing experience:
whenever i startled them (unintentionally), they were silent for several minutes. BUT when i played back the video recordings of their warbling from a few minutes before, they immediately joined in and competed with my camera.
to see the video and some photos, please continue reading.
nightshot near-infrared video of a male green toad (bufo viridis) that is warbling.
alternatively, you can download an xvid-file here:
[view video: bufo viridis calling] (video help)
oooooh cool!! hahaha i like how they would respond back to your video playback :)
is near-infrared part of the sony digicam’s video capabilities? or did you use some other equipment to record this?
very cool.
yes, switching to sony’s “nightshot mode” allows me to take near-infrared pictures & record video.
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