Full Spring Ahead

The wonderful sounds of toads and frogs first filled the night air of April 7th. By the next night the toads were everywhere yet it was still a cold night so they moved slowly yet the thrilling sounds filled the night air. Then we had a warm up and some rain and it became flashmob location for all toads far and wide at the Sugarloaf Pond.

On Saturday and Sunday nights I took evening walks down to the noisy pond with a flashlight in hand. There were toads in the water, toads on the land and toads shuffling around in the crunchy leaves. If you didn’t know that the noise was coming from the toads you would be convinced that there were ghosts walking in the forest. You could follow their footsteps yet see no vision of a being… “Toadally” spooky.

Taking my early morning run I was depressed to see flattened toads all over the road surrounding the pond. Then as I moved up to the hill, the frog death was replaced with thousands of worms. They were racing against the rising sun before they became worm jerky. I moved some of the larger ones to the side and tiptoed through the maze of worm mass as I continued my run. Upon returning home most of the toads were gone, only leaving bloody stains. The crows were happy and fat.