rik-rat corn pile

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Memorial Day American Toad.

can you see the worm he's about to eat?

An obnoxious and prickly bush was recently cut down and abolished from the garden.  Along with the piles of dirt (from the uprooting) came piles of worms.  Along with the piles of worms came an American toad.  He came to fill his belly with worm meat...yum.  I was able to watch this guy attack and gulp down two earthworms.  I tried to coax him into eating a third (as you can see in the top photo) but he wasn't having any of that.  Too many human smells.

Their camouflage is pretty impressive, wouldn't you agree? 

8 comments:

  1. OMG, I feel like I'm watching American Geographic, wildlife series! That thing is huge! Eeeeewwww, toads! How do you know it's not an Italian toad on vacation? Or is it an American toad only because it lives in America? Hope you had a good Memorial Day weekend. Blach, I didn't want to come back to work, that's fo' sho!

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  2. I make myself feel special by looking up animals I see in petersen's field guides. I'm not incredible at species identification, however. I thought a brown snake was a baby bull snake and I thought common carp were invasive in Iowa. Not true.

    I wish it was an italian toad...he would drive a tiny Ferrari (those are italian cars...I HOPE!)

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  3. Yep, Ferraris are Italian. I imagine he would drive a tiny little vespa, drinking his espresso and shout Ciao Bella! at all the little girl toads in your garden. American toad girls swoon for Italian toads on a vespa. True story.

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    Replies
    1. girl toads are amazingly beautiful. they wear wigs, i've heard. blonde ones.

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  4. i wubba nice toad, used to have them all the time in my parent's wooded lot, not so much (or ever) in my manicured garden, tho i've tried introducing them several times

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    Replies
    1. Maybe if you make a nice log pile. I always find my toads in dark, dank places. I guess they're kind of like Shrek.

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    2. Ogres are like onions. "What? They stink and make you cry?" "No Donkey, Ogres have layers. Like onions:"

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