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Bufo americanus
Identifying Features
- 2 to 4 inches long; brownish and warty-skinned.
- Generally common, but has experienced recent local population declines.
- Tolerates a wide variety of habitats.
- Most active on rainy, humid evenings.
- Remain buried in moist soil, leaf litter, and beneath logs or rocks.
- Burrow deeply into soil during winter and prolonged dry periods and remain dormant until conditions improve.
- Parotid glands produce whitish secretions which contain steroidal defenses. Attacking predators may experience illness or death due to changes in heart function and blood pressure.
Call
- A long, steady trill lasting about 30 seconds.
Breeding
- Prefer to breed in shallow, temporary waters with little to moderate amounts of emergent and submergent vegetation.
- Breeding sites include flooded fields, ditches, stock or ornamental ponds, open marshes, and backwaters.
- Occurs in early April and late May and can last into June or July if temperatures are cooler.
- Females lay from 2000 to over 20,000 eggs in loops on the bottom of the pond or backwater.
Development
- Eggs hatch in 2-14 days depending on water temperatures.
- Tadpoles often form large schools.
- Tadpoles transform into frogs in 6-10 weeks; hundreds of young toads swarm near breeding ponds.
- Few survive the 2-3 years required to reach sexual maturity.
Conservation Note
- Fairly adaptable, local declines due to loss or degradation of breeding sites.
Habitat Type
- Ephemeral wetlands.
- Permanent wetlands.
- Rivers and streams.
- Forests.
- Grasslands and savannas.
- Caves and springs.
- Agricultural areas.
- Urban areas.
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