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| What secrets do these sprinkler boxes hold? |
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| Amphibians! To the novice, these may appear to be "frogs" or even "toad-frogs." In fact, they are true toads of the family Bufonidae. This is either eastern toad (Anaxyrus americanus), southern toad (Anaxyrus terrestris), or Fowler's toad (Anaxyrus fowleri), three closely related species occuring in our region. We'll call this a medium-sized specimen. |
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| Now for the itty bitty, insy winsy variety: this little fellow looks like he was born yesterday. But give him some credit; he is probably the sole survivor of a clutch of thousands of eggs. Given these odds, we should award these little fellers some credit. Like the medium-sized specimen above, we can't tell if this is an American, Southern, or Fowler's toad. |
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| Seen in profile, this small toad has good posture. |
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| A comparison is a nice way to round out this post. Clearly we have enough bugs and creepy crawlies to go around. |
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| These toads come in red, black, brown, tan, "Mossy Oak," and all the shades in-between. Examination of the links below has led us to believe that this is a Fowler's toad (Anaxyrus fowleri). Identification mostly depends on the presence and form of ridges between the eye socket and neck glands, as well as the relative size of leg warts. In this case, the specimen lacks a prominent post-orbital ridge and has more-or-less uniformly sized warts. Let's also take a moment to mention that toads are not only gorgeous creatures, they are seasonally appropriate. |
Do you remember the line "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble" from Macbeth? You may have forgotten that in the long list of ingredients, TOADS were the first reagent to be added:
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweltered venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ th’ charmèd pot.
Fillet of a fenny snake
In the cauldron boil and bake.
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blindworm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch’s mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravined salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digged i’ th’ dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat and slips of yew
Slivered in the moon’s eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-delivered by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab.
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron
For th’ ingredience of our cauldron.
External links from Gonefroggin':
Fowler's Toad
Southern Toad
Photos of Fowler's toad from UC Berkley
