We have toads that live under our front steps. We often see them on our front walk when we take our dog out later at night in the spring and summer. Sometimes we’ll see one hopping around when mowing the lawn. But we rarely ever see them when outside playing, hanging around, looking for something like a toad to come by and give us something to do.
And then last week, my husband did spot one. He was weed whacking, the kids were in school, but I was happy to take a break from work and he was happy to stop to stare at the toad on a hop through our ground cover for a while too. We talked about building a little house for him and even got out a bin to keep him in until the kids got home, but then we decided to let him be, not to even pick him up, and to just take a few pictures instead.
Of course, not many nature interactions can happen in my world without spinning my brain into questions and curiosities mode, so I did a little follow up research on toads afterwards. I was surprised to find out that there really aren’t many species of frogs and toads found in Massachusetts (only two types of toad!) (Here is a good summary of them all.). This toad is likely an American Toad male because his throat is darker, only the males make a bunch of noise and the equivalent of vocal chords show up darker. They eat slugs, which we certainly have around in the evenings as well!
I wonder how many species of frog Sarah can find near her house! I know I’ve seen two for sure!
