Noisy buggers

[Gordon Steadman]

Every night, as we are shutting the chickens and ducks in, we are greeted with a cacophony of what sound like belches - incredibly loud.

We knew they were frogs but haven't ever seen them. Today, a whole group just decided to sun themselves on a water butt. Tiny things, the adult are only about 1" in the body although rather longer once legs are extended. Totally unconcerned with our presence but by the time I got the camera, the group was down to two and there were a couple of loud 'plops' as one of the cats decided to join us.

How on earth does something that small make a noise that carries to the house 100 yards away?

[The Grand Wazoo]

How on earth does something that small make a noise that carries to the house 100 yards away?

Amazing, isn't it? I've always wondered how crickets and the like can possibly be so loud.
This is quite funny too......


World's Loudest Animals—Bug With "Singing" Penis
Although not the loudest animal in terms of sheer decibels, the 0.07-inch (2-millimeter) water boatman species Micronecta scholtzi, pictured, does make the loudest sounds relative to its body size, scientists announced in June in the journal PLoS ONE.

Engineers and evolutionary biologists in Scotland and France recorded the boatman—which is roughly the size of a grain of rice—"singing" in a tank. The aquatic insect's songs peaked at 105 decibels, roughly equivalent to the volume of a pounding jackhammer within arm's reach.

The chirps are loud enough that humans can hear the sounds while standing at the edge of a boatman's pond. Fortunately for nature lovers, though, nearly all the sound is lost when the noises cross from water to air.

Remarkably, the boatman creates his songs by rubbing his penis against his belly, in a process similar to how crickets chirp. Sound-producing genitalia are relatively rare within the animal kingdom, but animals have evolved hundreds of other ways to boost their hoots, howls, and snaps.

—Rachel Kaufman
National Geographic (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/07/pictures/110711-loudest-animals-water-boatman-singing-genitals/)
Published July 11, 2011

[The Barbarian]

They are Stripeless Tree frogs the full grown ones are only about 2'' long.. The noise comes from the male btw...

[Audio Al]

In France , isn't that dinner :)

[Gordon Steadman]

In France , isn't that dinner :)

I think I would need more than two!!! Horses douvres maybe:)