The blueberry bushes at the front of the house had a hard year. The invasive winter moths stripped them of foliage and weakened the branches. The late spring frost killed the blossoms. They needed some TLC, so I weeded, aerated the soil, and put down a new layer of chopped straw mulch.
It’s good to get down on the ground. There are things to see.
I spy a little….
…tiny amphibian.
What could it be? A spring peeper?
Nope. Look closely, the warts give it away.
I spy a baby toad!
Now that I’ve seen one, I’m seeing lots. They’re hopping in the lawn, they’re hiding in the potted flowers, they’re in the dirt by the barn. These slug and beetle eating animals are welcome to stay! I wonder if they eat winter moth larvae?
I love the toads but… my golden retriever finds them tasty so if I see one I move it near the pond where the dog can not go unless he is with me.
Are you sure he’s eating toads? Not frogs??? Toads are nasty to eat and cause animals to foam at the mouth. Even my chickens don’t eat them.
oh he foams at the mouth, and he likes frogs too
Love them! ( but have an aversion to frogs…weird right? ) I watch closely whenever I am mowing the lawn because they appear out of nowhere…racing for the edges of the yard.
Awesome! We’ve had a dearth of small critters of any kind here over the past few years. My next door neighbors became crazy cat people and the cats were even killing the snakes. (He came down with congestive heart failure and she with alzheimer’s. The cats were their pleasure and people started dumping them here. 26 of them at the high point.) Sadly the neighbors are gone and the house sold so the few remaining cats were removed. I can’t wait for all the small critters to repopulate my yard. I saw my first rabbit in years last week. Last year I had an adult toad frequent my dog’s water dish but I haven’t seen him yet this year. Maybe next year I’ll get lucky like you and have baby toads!
What very good eyes you have to see this little fellow. He blends into his surroundings quite nicely. No toads around here, but I did see two coyotes strolling down the street at 5:30 this morning, probably heading for Rock Creek Park about a half mile away. This year has been strange: only a few annual cicadas or butterflies, but lots of lightning bugs; a population boom in chipmunks, but only two squirrels; cardinals all over the place, but fewer robins than I usually see…
We use to get swarms of baby toads when the tadpoles finally turned. They would be everywhere for a week or two and then suddenly vanish. We have a much larger pond at our new house of 6 years but not once have we had toads. I think we have too much water movement with our waterfall here. I miss the nightly, high pitched, horny toad song in the spring. I learned to role my tongue and hit just the right pitch and I would get that song started early every night. Good times until the night an enormous toad with a twinkle in his eye popped out of the bushes beside my garden swing, LOL.
Love that thought of you starting a toad chorus!