It’s Toad Time in the Drew Forest!
Year after year, forest visitors in early May are treated to the high-pitched chorus of male American Toads calling from the two ponds in the Drew Forest. Well over a decade ago, local photographer Blaine Rothauser was visiting and was impressed by the number of toads he could hear calling - the toad population in the Drew Forest is one of the largest in the region. Being a naturalist (and environmental consultant), he knew what the trilling portended.
Blaine returned late one night with his camera equipment, went into the dark forest, and sat beside Long Pond. We are so glad he did! He captured Drew Forest’s American Toads in remarkable photographs like the two shown here:
Close-up, American Toad pair mating. Thank you, Blaine Rothauser!
By mid-May, tiny toad tadpoles will have hatched from fertilized eggs and begun their metamorphosis to air-breathing toads. The tiny toads - loads of them - will be emerging in June and are an incredible sight hopping away from the ponds. They will settle down amidst moist leaf leaf litter and dead logs until they return to the pond next year to begin another reproductive cycle.
American Toads are an important part of the life cycle in the Forest, serving as both prey and predator on land and in the ponds. Clearly, the Drew Forest is critical habitat for the toads since most of their lives are spent on forested land near the ponds where they reproduce.
