SAGE Frog Symphony Thousands of students around Australia will be out in the field this year, recording some of nature's sweetest sounds the calls of Australia's frogs. You can be part of a national project highlighting the importance of frogs as indicators of the state of the environment. In the meantime, you can experience what it's like to record information for scientific purposes. You'll need a small tape recorder with a microphone, and a tripod or something that will keep your microphone off the ground. Set up your recording equipment before dark in a frog habitat.
Most frogs call from dusk to midnight.
Make sure the microphone is on the tripod and close to the area you want to record. Also, frogs tend to go quiet if you are too close. It's best to record on windless evenings, but you could consider making a windshield, such as a fake fur sleeve slipped over the microphone. Use good quality chromium tape and don't turn off the Dolby setting on the tape recorder. Once you have a recording of frogs in your neighbourhood, compare your recording with professional frog tapes and see if you can identify any species.