Banjo Players…REJOICE!

Dia dhaoibh! Greetings all!

Now take this seriously! I never thought to share one of the joys of Tasmanian life before, and for many of you here at The Session, including some dear friends, here is some information about a beautiful creature called a
SOUTHERN POBBLEBONK!

Don’t laugh! It’s real. Sometimes it’s called the EASTERN POBBLEBONK.

Its scientific name is
Limnodynastes dumerilii insularis.

In the eight years I’ve lived in this area, I have been privileged to hear it calling, in spite of the sometimes arid conditions.
Anyway, after looking after my chickens, putting syrup out for my bees (desperately dry here) I heard the glorious call of the Southern POBBLEBONK. Not just one, but loads of males calling out for some nuptials.

I have them here in my garden and there are loads in the nearby dam (pond)

The common name for them is
THE BANJO FROG
The call is a simple
BOYNg…
BOYNg…
just like plucking a banjo string
Round here they are pitched between an A and Bb. When there’s more humidity it’s Bb.

I don’t know how to give you the link but you can find recordings of them

So I hope all you Banjo Players enjoy a positive story for once!

All the best
Brian x

You can hear them here:

https://wildambience.com/wildlife-sounds/eastern-banjo-frog-pobblebonk/

And it would be grand if many a banjo had a similarly delicate tone.

Good to hear from you Brian! Hope you are keeping well. That’s a great story. Banjo Frogs - sounds like something from a Les Murray poem.

spot on - A, Bb and B ! wasnt there an Oz bush poet called Banjo Patterson?

Here in the Eastern US we have the “green frog” (Lithobates clamitans) whose call is often likened to plucking a slack banjo string.

Think I just found the title of my next banjo album 😉

That would be the Rocky Mountain Pobblebonk 🙂

LOL

A friend of mine from Ireland went over to Australia years ago to visit family, and when he came back he told me the story of being out on the porch on a nice evening, hearing the sound of frogs that sounded *exactly* like banjos.

But this is the first time I’ve had independent corroboration of his story!

https://youtu.be/F3ivv7pQkWQ

play video

Thank you Muircheartaig for the link. That’s it
And thank you Choons too

I remember vividly the first time I heard them. I was a tutor at the Music under The Mountains at Gowrie Park, Tasmania, in January 2005 (for those in Northern climes, balmy Summer evenings) and after the evening session went for a walk and heard this incredible orchestra of Banjo frogs. It was stunning!
Where I am, it’s nice to go for a night walk and hear them.
I have three species of frog in my garden, and when they’re all all on song it goes all night! Such a blessing.

And Paul, how wonderful to hear from you too, keep safe and well x

All the best
Brian x

“Round here they are pitched between an A and Bb.”

They must have had historical contact with pipe bands.

Hi CMO

That’s so very funny! Have you ever watched frogs or toads when they sing/croak?
Their necks bulge just like pipers’ when they are playing. And you can clearly see where their ears are situated.

All the best
Brian x

I realised just after pressing the detonator that bagpipes are tunes slightly north of Bb, not between A and Bb. I could have gone back and edited it, but thought I would rather risk ridicule than spoil the comic effect. Was there ever a time when ‘piper’s A’ agreed with everyone else’s A, or was at least closer to A than to B?

Well dear CMO

You must know that a dozen flute players tuning in and sounding an A is called a CHORD!

All the best
Brian x

Okay Australian frogs make a great banjo orchestra (I hear them all through summer), but the Australian Butcher Bird is surely the best very tuneful flute player in the non-human animal kingdom. I wake up to them every morning and a lot of them are my close and trusting friends. If I am not that lazy that that somebody beats me to it I will post an audio link. But meanwhile check them out. They are not only beautifully flutey but tunefully inspiring.

Butcher birds- the Australian flutists….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr46I3568Hk

play video

The close audio relationship between the sounds of frogs and banjos was put to music many decades ago with the playing of ‘’Froggy Mountain Breakdown‘’……………….

Dear Gobby

You could not be more accurate!
I also do so love the song of The Butcherbird
There’s one which sits in the gum tree in the corner of my garden and sings away every morning. It sometimes has a singing duel with a Magpie which sits atop the Hydro pole. A glorious contest to have in the morning!
I was so inspired that I wrote a reel back in 2015 called The Jolly Butcherbird.

Froggy Mountain Breakdown
Tony, that’s very funny
Is it before, or after you play The Froggy Dew?

All the best
Brian x

I have a banjo that sounds like a frog

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