Archive for August, 2011

Sonoran Desert Toad and Sonoran Green Toad

In mid July at Down By The River B and B, Angie came running in and told me that I had to see this. Now since she is from Wisconsin has been living here almost a year now, I wonder if she had found something I didn’t want to know about – like a rattlesnake. Having lived on the Arizona and California desert almost all my life, I am familiar with and have seen many plants and animals that survive in the dry climate. Well she found something a little different this time.

I went with her and she pointed at a pot with a tomato plant in it and said “What is that?”, I didn’t see anything at first but then I noticed movement in the mulch. There was a big eye and a head there and as she watered the head a little more a

6 inch Sonoran Toad

6 inch Sonoran Toad jumped out of the pot. I hadn’t really seen many toads until I had more down to St. David. The Phoenix area is pretty much paved over so toads don’t exist there as before. During our first monsoon season in St. David, we had our first encounter with a cacophony of noise at night. We would sit out and watch the rain and lightening and we would see the toads hopping around and croaking. I learned about these amphibians and their unusual lives in the dryness of the desert. I have seen two types of toads here at the B and B.