Rewilding My Lot

In early spring there was a period of a few weeks when there was a toad chorus around the pond from dusk for two hours or so. Eventually that activity stopped, but then the noise started up again in early May and this time I’ve been able to observe more.

Once the chorus starts in the evening, then I can crouch beside the pond with a headlight and watch what’s happening. Usually there are two or three noisy Gulf Coast Toads (males, I presume) and a couple of silent ones (females?). Occasionally one or two of the toads will swim in the water for a while, sometimes interacting for a few seconds. The croaking seems very orderly — they take turns and rarely will two vocalize together.

In this photo there is a croaking male with a silent female behind it.

And this video is an example of two males taking turns with their calls.

Then, on the morning of May 23, I got quite the show with my breakfast. Two Gulf Coast Toads were in the mating posture (“amplexus”) for about an hour (the smaller male clinging onto the back of the female) as they moved around the pond making yards of spawn in double strands. The female laid eggs that were immediately fertilized by the male. Occasionally they would rest for a few minutes, still attached, and then off they went again. In the first of the photos below (with cropped close-up following), you can just see the strands of spawn coming from the rear of the female.

Here’s what the strands of toad spawn look like.

Thousands of eggs were laid, and it will apparently take up to two weeks for the viable ones to hatch into tadpoles. I am hoping that tadpoles will eat some of the phytoplankton that has been making the pond water murky lately!

Perhaps not surprisingly, the night after the toad spawn was created, there was no chorus.