An American Toad visits the pond...

Another amphibian decided to visit our tiny backyard pond. This time, an American Toad dropped in. He stayed around for a few days and then moved on...

An American Toad is curmudgeonly cute...and very "warty bliggens!"

The warts on a toad aren't warts at all. They are tiny glands that secrete a liquid toxin that burns the lining of a predator's mouth. The large bumps behind the toad's eyes are Parotoid Glands, and they can dump a lot of toxin at once. The toxin won't hurt humans, but if it's on your hands, and you rub your eyes, your eyes will burn and water.

American Toads look a lot like Fowler's Toads. For a previous post I did on Fowler's Toads, and to learn how to tell them apart from American Toads, click here.

American Toads are not huge...this fella was about three inches long. They do have a long lifespan, however. I read in "Ohio's Amphibians," by Guy Denny, that American Toads can live to be 30 years old! 

The white stripe running down his back is striking...

Who is warty bliggens? 
"warty bliggens" lives in the world of "archy and mehitabel," by Don Marquis. archy is a cockroach from a newspaper office in 1930s New York. He believes in reincarnation and claims to have been a "vers libre bard" in a previous life. At night, he expresses himself by jumping from key to key on a typewriter and writing about life and the universe. Since he's a cockroach, he can't hold down the shift key, so his poems are all written in lower case and without punctuation. His friends are mehitabel the alley cat and warty bliggens the toad. This is warty's story:

warty bliggens the toad

i met a toad
the other day by the name
of warty bliggens
he was sitting under
a toadstool
feeling contented
he explained that when the cosmos
was created
that toadstool was especially
planned for his personal
shelter from sun and rain
thought out and prepared
for him

do not tell me
said warty bliggens
that there is not a purpose
in the universe
the thought is blasphemy

a little more
conversation revealed
that warty bliggens
considers himself to be
the center of the same universe
the earth exists
to grow toadstools for him
to sit under
the sun to give him light
by day and the moon
and wheeling constellations
to make beautiful
the night for the sake of
warty bliggens

to what act of yours
do you impute
this interest on the part
of the creator
of the universe
i asked him
why is it that you
are so greatly favored

ask rather
said warty bliggens
what the universe
has done to deserve me

if i were a human being i would
not laugh
too complacently
at poor warty bliggens
for similar
absurdities
have only too often
lodged in the crinkles
of the human cerebrum

 archy

by Don Marquis (1878-1937)
from "Archy and Mehitabel"

 For an introduction by E. B. White on "The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel, by Don Marquis," click here.

A Fowler's Toad in a clearing along the Little Miami River...

Sunday evening while I was walking along the Little Miami River trail, I decided to climb down to the river where there's a clearing with a sandy and rocky beach. It's a great place to watch the Chimney Swifts as they swoop low over the water snatching insects from the air. As the sun sets, more and more of the little birds grab their last meal of the day before returning to the huge chimney at the Peter's Cartridge Factory where they make their home. The rocky beach is large, and as I walked to one side, a Fowler's Toad moved right by my foot. I slowly crept away from him (I had my long lens) and crouched down low so I could get his photo...

A Fowler's Toad (Bufo fowleri) surprised me while I was walking along a sandy and rocky beach on the Little Miami River.

I soon found out there were three Fowler's Toads hiding out in the sand and rocks. One was large, one medium, and one small. The smallest toad was young, and the white stripe that went down his back was barely visible, but other than that, all three had distinct markings. Fowler's Toads and American Toads (Bufo americanus) look a lot alike, but if you examine the "warts" in the largest dark spots on their backs you can tell them apart. Fowler's Toads usually have three or four warts per spot, while American Toads usually have only one or two...

This toad had four "warts" in each of his larger dorsal spots, so I knew he was a Fowler's Toad (Bufo fowleri).

Another way to tell the two toads apart is to look at their bellies. Fowler's Toads have mostly white bellies with a dark spot in the center...

I laid down on the rocks so I could get a look at this fellow's belly. Sure enough, it was mostly white with a central pectoral spot. Again, confirmation that he was a Fowler's Toad. American Toads have a lot of dark spots on their bellies.

...another way to distinguish a Fowler's Toad from an American Toad is to check the warts on their hind legs. On a Fowler's Toad, the warts on the tibia are usually just a little larger than those on the thigh and foot. On an American Toad, the tibial warts are a lot larger (source: "Amphibians & Reptiles of Indiana," Sherman Minton, Jr., pg 112)...

...the tibial warts are just a little larger than those on the thigh and foot. Another clue points to a Fowler's Toad!

A Fowler's Toad blends in very well among rocks and sand along the Little Miami River. Camouflage was a great defense. When I looked away, I almost lost him. The white stripe down his back was very noticeable, and the green and gray stripes on his legs were too, but the same marks helped him blend in and disappear when I looked away. 

This Fowler's Toad is literally catching the last sun ray of the day. It lit his face for a few minutes before it slid out of sight. Fowler's Toads are mostly crepuscular (meaning they are most active at twilight), so he was just getting ready to start his day! 

About those warts...
The warts on a toad aren't warts at all. They are tiny glands that secrete a liquid toxin that burns the lining in the mouths of predators that try to eat them! The large bumps behind the toad's eyes are called parotoid glands, and they can secrete a lot of the toxin at once, causing the predator to drop the toads quickly. The toxin is strong enough to kill a dog that bites into them, but the toxin can't harm humans if it's secreted on the hands (source: "Amphibians of Ohio Field Guide" Division of Wildlife, pg 28 and Fast Facts).

The parotoid gland is located behind the eyes of the toad and contains toxins the toad uses in defense against predators. If you pick up a toad and it secretes the liquid, it won't really hurt you (and you won't get warts), but it will sting if you get it in your eyes or other mucous membranes, so be careful, and wash your hands after handling toads to avoid accidentally getting the toxin in your eyes.

Last year when I photographed an Eastern Hognose Snake going through all his antics (click here for that post), I remember reading that hognose snakes (whose favorite food is toads) are immune to toads' toxins.

p.s. A reader wrote me about an encounter he had with a toad, and it's a good warning. While sleeping a toad landed on his chest. Startled, he knocked it off. He then rubbed his eyes and started to go back to sleep. Suddenly it felt like his eyes were on fire, and they started watering like crazy! The toxin really can burn your eyes, so always wash your hands after handling a toad... (Thanks for letting us know, Robert!)