Last monsoon me and Anoop stumbled upon a little patch of froggy heaven in Coorg. It was a nesting site for Rhacophorus lateralis!!!The male seen here just 1 among the many who were in the process of finding a mate and building nests last year.There were many adults perched on leaves. But no nest building activity took place. Few males were calling and few were just contemplating. All the females were just staring into the dark.We knew our torch lights would be a disturbance to them if we hang around. So we quickly took a few photographs and waited for a couple of hours in the dark away from the nest site, listening to all sorts of frog calls. We had found tranquility then. It was past mid night now, we had a quick check then we went back leaving the frogs in peace.Very heavy rain and wind made the trip highly enjoyable. Detailed observation can be found here: thewesternghats.indiabiodiversity.org/observation/show/33... and thewesternghats.indiabiodiversity.org/observation/show/33...
Chiromantis punctatusChiromantis punctatus. Paratype JBS 9274. Image from Wilkinson, J.A., Win, H., Thin T., Lwin, K.S., Shein, A.K. and Tun, H. 2003. A new species of Chirixalus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from western Myanmar (Burma). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences: 17-26. In Biodiversity Heritage Library.
This photographs was taken in the breeding season, i.e., onset of monsoon in Western Ghats (month June)near a secondary forest. This is a male individual, calling for the female.