Frog Census

The Frog Census app provides a description of the 16 species of frogs commonly found in the Melbourne region and enables community members to submit frog calls easily and efficiently to the Frog Census program - a community frog monitoring program that has operated since 2001. Frog Census aims to engage the community around the value, importance and threats to frog species throughout Melbourne. The census seeks to collate data gathered by volunteers to provide further information on frog species’ distribution across the Port Phillip and Western Port region. The program encourages community members to get involved by becoming citizen scientists and recording frog calls at their local waterway.

This data is used to track the movement of frog populations across Melbourne and help inform and influence river health management within Melbourne Water and other land management organisations. It is also added to the Atlas of Living Australia and the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas. The contribution of citizen science data helps us to protect frog species across Melbourne and can provide an indication of water quality in our local waterways.

The Frog Census program is designed to target all regions within Melbourne Water’s service area with a focus on locations that are deficient in frog data, or have been identified as areas of interest.

The Frog Census app was developed by Melbourne Water using code from the NatureBlitz app developed by North Central Catchment CMA’s Waterwatch program.

The Frog Census app
- allows the user to submit a frog recording and/or upload photos with additional descriptive text to accompany the records.
- includes an interactive map display where all frog records are displayed.
- Auto-captures GPS location data.
- Auto-fills weather conditions from the Bureau of Meteorology.
- Verifies all frog recordings using a professional ecologist.

Users will be asked to identify themselves with name and email address when submitting a record for the first time. This information is required to submit a record. The app will remember a user’s details for subsequent recordings. Names and email addresses will not be shared and are used to verify recordings when required.

Frog photographs are courtesy of Peter Robertson and frog audio calls are courtesy of Ed McNabb. All images and sounds are copyright of the creators.

To seek permission to use any media from the Frog Census app, or for further information, please contact the Melbourne Water Frog Census team at frogs@melbournewater.com.au