Fowler's Toad Up Close and Candid
   
In honor of last week's Newsday (7 Apr. 2002) carrying an article on my earlier Fowler's toad macros, I thought that I'd add a few more toad photos online. The earlier page showed some good overall ID pictures; these could be called "behavioral" shots.

What impresses me more than anything else is the extreme small size of the guys (or girls). To be anything so small and to stare upward at what would otherwise be a neatly trimmed lawn a couple of inches high takes one, instead, to a jungle of unbelievable density, such as below.
 

Toad before a wall of grass

  Of course, it's one thing to stare at the jungle; it's quite another to be in the middle of one. The following photo could easily have a toad wondering, "How high do I have to climb to see daylight?"
 
Toad climbing up grass

This little one looks happy to have found a level blade of grass.
 
Jungle toad

Finally, here's a closeup portrait of a toad wondering whether the sidewalk is any better than the lawn is. (The answer is a resounding, NO!)
 
Face of a baby toad

  Note: Newsday has a large and all-encompassing site (well, it is a huge newspaper) for everything to do with Long Island. Another extremely informative site is Dr. Russell L. Burke's guide to the reptiles and amphibians of Long Island.



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