A Toad in the Leaf Litter 𓆏

Small, Hidden Continuities of August

I love catching sight of a young American toad on the forest floor. It feels like a small victory. They are superbly camouflaged among leaves, soil, and moss, so finding one is never guaranteed. It is also a quiet reassurance that some things are right in the world: young toads are where they should be, doing what they should be doing at this time of year.

By early August, many young American toads have already been on land for weeks. Having left their breeding waters from mid-June onward, they move through surrounding uplands, growing rapidly, hunting small prey, and seeking cool, moist shelter. Their diet includes ants, beetles, flies, and other invertebrates small enough to manage.

My encounters also seem to reflect the landscape. In Middlesex County, I most often see American toads (Anaxyrus americanus), while on the sandy Outer Cape, I more often see Fowler’s toads (A. fowleri). Both species occur on Cape Cod and broadly across Massachusetts, so this is an observation about local habitat and encounter patterns, not a hard boundary. Fowler’s toads are associated with sandy areas near wetlands; American toads are commonly found on forest floors and in other more mesic settings.

The forest floor is not an easy place for a small toad. Young toads face snakes, birds, and mammals, as well as hazards from road crossings, habitat loss, pollution, and disease. Their defensive skin secretions may deter some predators, but camouflage, stillness, and the availability of moist cover remain essential.

So when I catch that slight movement in the leaf litter and realize it is a young toad, I feel grateful for the small, hidden continuities of August.

🔎︎ More about American toads

→ Powell, Robert, Roger Conant, and Joseph T. Collins. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 4th ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.

→ Raithel, Christopher J. Amphibians of Rhode Island. Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife, 2019.

→ Wells, Kentwood D. The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians. University of Chicago Press, 2007. 

📷 American Toad · Crapaud d'Amérique (Anaxyrus americanus) | © Claire O'Neill, please credit accordingly.