Posted in Amphibians, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged American Toad, Anaxyrus americanus, Canon SX50, Prince William Forest Park, toad, Triangle VA on April 11, 2019| 4 Comments »
When you truly love someone, you love them warts and all (and as the second image shows, American Toads (Anaxyrus americanus) have lots of warts). I spotted these amorous amphibians earlier this week at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Amphibians, frog, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged American Toad, Anaxyrus americanus, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm, Canon SX50, croaking frog, frog, Prince William Forest Park, Triangle VA, vocal sac on April 9, 2019| 17 Comments »
Can you actually see a sound? Yesterday while I was exploring Prince William Forest Park, I heard a whole lot of croaking. Eventually I spotted one really loud male toad with an inflated vocal sac, which was pretty cool. What were even cooler were the concentric ripples in the water generated by the toad’s croaking.
The second image shows the toad resting in between performances, whose main purpose is to attract mates. His song did not appear to have had any immediate benefits, although I was certainly impressed.
UPDATE: I initially identified this as a frog, but fellow blogger and wildlife enthusiast Walter Sanford pointed out to me that this is probably an American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Amphibians, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, American Toad, Anaxyrus americanus, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm, toad on March 21, 2016| 6 Comments »
The single American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus) inched closer and closer to the couple, looking like he wanted to cut in. Growing impatent, he decided that the only way to dislodge his rival was to take action. With a big splash, he jumped right onto the other male’s back.
Was the maneuver successful? Well, I think he separated the couple, but I couldn’t tell which of the males ended up with the female.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Amphibians, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Anaxyrus americanus, Anaxyrus fowleri, Canon 50D, Eastern American Toad, Fowler's Toad, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 15, 2015| 10 Comments »
When you are face-to-face with this toad, you might notice that he has a few skin issues, but when you see him from the side, you realize that he has a serious problem that anti-acne cream surely will not cure.
I don’t often see toads at my local marshland park, so I couldn’t help but move in for a closer look when I spotted this one last weekend. At the park, we have both Fowler’s toads (Anaxyrus fowleri) and Eastern American Toads (Anaxyrus americanus) and I have trouble telling them apart. To make matters worse, according to the Virginia Herpetological Society, these species hybridize, “making identification difficult.”
I was pretty amazed when I looked at my shots to see all of the different textures and patterns on the toad’s body body. There are warts and weaves and different kinds of stripes. I’m happy too that I was able to capture the toad’s toes, which most often are hidden.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 