There are toads singing at all three ponds these days. Oh, how I love it! Their deep songs are my nighttime lullaby. I believe there’s six males at the moment, and when they really go at it, each singing at a different pitch, it’s almost orchestral.
We also seem to have a sneaky frog that I saw hanging out in the waterfall this evening. But when I went to get the camera, he disappeared. But my return to the pond meant that at least I captured a picture of one of our singing sextet.
It’s funny — the toads were so competitive in their singing that they pretty much ignored the photographer and the flashlight-holder. We took a few pictures and then let them get back to their romantic calling.
Speaking of toads, look at this cute female we found while our tree guys were here last week. All snug as a bug in a rug! I put her near the front pond for safety, away from the commotion.
What species of toad is that? The only one we have here is the eastern American toad — or at least that’s all I ever see and hear. A high trilling call that ended for us three or four weeks ago already.
The leopard frog that was around for a while seems to be gone now too. I don’t know if he ever mated — I’ll know soon once the tadpoles start getting bigger. 🙂
very nice picture of the toad. I haven’t noticed any here yet- not that that’s surprising, we don’t have a pond, and so they tend to only show up in the summer because I have saucers of water out for them.
I built a teeny pond just for frogs into the back garden last fall. A friend who lives nearby brought over frogs and I wasn’t sure they’d make it, but they seem to love it. We have a lot of toads and that hang out around the rain barrels. I love the photo of the singing frog. Too bad your blog doesn’t have a soundtrack. :o)
Oh, how fun! A true sign of summer! I remember when my son and his friends would catch and release toads, frogs, and salamanders. It’s a great learning experience!
Gulf Coast toad, Alan. We have several different species of toads and frogs around here, but the Gulf Coast is what I have in my own yard, along with the occasional Southern Leopard frog and bullfrog.
You might be surprised — they might just be out there right now!
Somehow I think water is so precious that frogs would appreciate even the tiniest of ponds. And I had intended to do video, Casa Mariposa, but alas, we’ll have to wait for another night!
It is indeed, PlantPostings. I have great memories of that from my youth. We do have one toad that went into our garage a couple of days ago, but it hopped out of my reach — I hope it found its way out again!
Haven’t seen any toads lately. I really appreciate your caring for wildlife and great photography. Have a question slightly off subject, if you care to answer. How do you safely treat your dogs, cats & yard for fleas? How do you feel about diatomaceous earth? Thought it was a good organic option, but will it harm beneficials outside?
How exciting that you can hear the different frog songs. Living on a rather large wetland we have had to close the windows because of all the singing. I don’t know how a girl frog can possibly choose.
As always, Meredith, your photos are great, and show so much of the character of your garden in little bits and pieces. And your photo reminded me how stunningly pretty a GC toad’s eyes are. Like a little piece of jewelry made from onyx and gold.
I haven’t seen any GC toads this year, and normally I see quite a few. I suspect they are around, just not as noisy. I built a small-animal sanctuary in the base of my rain barrels, but with 880 pounds of water on top of it, it’s nearly impossible to see if anyone toad-like is using it.
Loved reading of your experience with the silkmoths. I have some caterpillars of Luna moth and a chance to make them happy to live here.
Pat, I’m raising Polyphemus moths right now! Working on getting a blog post done on it — finally!
Hi, Carol. I’m looking into a natural product line called Wondercide, but I haven’t tried it yet. We actually avoid treating our yard because it is so big, and we make sure to bath our pets regularly. I’ve used diatomaceous earth indoors before, but a long time ago. I wouldn’t want to use it outside, though. Sorry for the delay in responding — I took a long breather to get some other projects done!
I hear you! I’ve gone frog-watching a bit with other Master Naturalists recently — I’ve learned much about recognizing our local amphibian calls. I just wish we had more variety here at the house!
Marc, I’m quite certain that toads would love your habitat, so I’ll bet you are right that they are just being quiet. Ours have stages of singing — sometimes going weeks without a peep, ribbit, or croak.
I like your pictures of snakes and of frogs. This frog singing is so cute!
Thanks, Timothy! I’m such a fan of reptiles and amphibians — glad to know you are, too!
Hi, Timothy! I’m such a fan of reptiles and amphibians — I’m glad to hear that you are, too!