Shellharbour City Council has teamed up with the Australian Museum to bring a leading frog expert to the city to launch the first national FrogID Week.

Council’s Environment team and Shellharbour City Libraries will host Dr Jodi Rowley, Australian Museum Curator of Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, as part of the Australian Museum’s FrogID Project.

The FrogID project is a citizen science project that uses mobile phone technology and ‘audio DNA’ to allow people to discover what kind of frogs they are hearing,” she said.

By recording and uploading frog calls through the free FrogID app, people can contribute to mapping frog species across Australia.

Finding out what frogs are calling where and when, can provide valuable insights into where frogs are at risk from habitat loss, disease and climate change.

Shellharbour City Council’s Environment team is encouraging residents to hop on board with FrogID week, from 9 to 18 November, and submit recordings of frog calls through the FrogID app.

Common local species include the Striped Marsh Frog, Peron’s Tree Frog, Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog and Bleating Tree Frog.

Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba said people were often curious to know what kind of frogs they have in their backyard and local area.

“Frog calls hold the key to finding out what frogs are around - each species call is unique and distinctive to its kind,” Cr Saliba said.

“Recent rains have sent frogs hopping, and many frogs can be heard calling across the Shellharbour area,” she said.

The free frog talk with Dr Jodi Rowley will be held at Shellharbour City Library on Friday 9 November from 6pm to 7pm as part of Council’s new ‘Nature Talks in the Library’ series.

Bookings can be made online or by calling City Library on 4221 6222.

Media enquiries: Kelli Wells 0448 361 008.