The toads are waiting for Spring

Toads burrow into holes and other spaces during the winter to hibernate. I found these two fellows, a large one and a small one, in this access point to our in-ground sprinkler system.

There is a medium-sized crack in the cover to the access point, so I figure they crawled in earlier this winter and are waiting out the remainer of the cool weather. However, the big one I don't think would be able to hop back out, so I opened the cover one evening and waited for him to hop out. At the same time, I actually extracted the small one and placed him in the grass next to the hole. A week later and the large one is still in there. Obviously he knows more about when it's time to leave than I do, so I'll leave him alone for now. I hope I didn't do the small one a disservice by moving him from his temporary abode. By the way, can you spot the smaller of the two toads? He's pretty well hidden.

Blechy!

The title is inspired by a friend who had a toad almost jump on her when she was helping my wife move something. She did some hopping herself and exclaimed, "Toads are blechy!"

I noticed this little toad in our pond a day or two ago. Last summer we didn’t have any toads visit the pond. I’m glad to see one back this year. It is probably a Bufo americanus, the common American toad. We’ve heard no calls the past couple of nights, so I’m assuming it’s a female.

A couple of years ago, we had a toad take up a two year (or maybe three, I can’t remember) residence. He's pictured in our profile...a rather similar shot actually. He was a male and boy did he have a loud call. Let’s hope this new resident is a quiet neighbor.

Learn more about the American toad here.