Screaming frog

I was on the phone about a week ago when I was startled by a screeching noise coming from behind the lounge room curtains.  My friend had to wait while I put the phone down and investigated.  I thought it must be a small possum that had somehow found its way inside, although that has never happened before in this house. 

I was amazed, and quite delighted, to find it was a little frog.  Making a noise much, much louder than you would expect from such a little creature.  I think it was closer to a scream than a screech.  I couldn't catch it with my hands (I had a sore back and was very slow at bending) so grabbed a plastic container to place over it, so I could pick it up and put it outside.  It made such a noise when it discovered it was once again trapped, I let go of the container in fright a couple of times and had to track it all around the living room before finally managing to get the container over it and slipping a lid between the carpet and it's little bum and taking it outside.

 

 I have a little pond in the yard and had given up hope that one day a frog might visit as I've never seen one around here.  

 A very helpful lady at the Department of Conservation has identified it from the photos.  It's a Growling Grass Frog Litoria raniformis also commonly known as the Southern Bell Frog, a native of South eastern Australia.  The frogs where I grew up and in the north of Australia, never made noises like this one does.  Its call is often described as "the sound of a duck or goose being strangled".  Now I've never heard a duck or goose being strangled but I've got a fair idea what it sounds like now!

I wonder if it has a mate (couldn't tell by its size whether it was male or female), they produce up to several thousand eggs, so there could be more of them around before long if it has.  It is a threatened species in Australia (not protected here) and despite the horrible noise it makes, I'd love to have frogs in my pond.