The Rocky Mountain toad has a wide range which includes mountain and plains states almost from the northern to the southern borders of the U.S.

Over the weekend, at that party on Saturday night outside Krum, we had the opportunity to meet some people and some creatures that were living on the land. My husband’s dissertation director lives in a nice doublewide mobilehome full of valuable antiques out on the Texas prairie. And all around her, the creatures of the land are crowding in. Thus it was that the kids found a Rocky Mountain Toad crawling up to the metal skirting beside the house, and caught it. They brought it to me in a bucket.

The younger children were up in arms: “Let me hold it! Mom, he (oldest son) won’t let me hold it!”

“Of course I won’t let her hold it, she’s gonna drop it! We just want to show it to you, then we’re letting it go.”

“He held it, and he dropped it too! It’s my turn … ”

I supervised the younger kids holding the toad, very carefully, and then it was released. We washed our hands.  And I went home and, owing to the toad’s large pale dorsal marking, was able to determine that it was a Bufo Woodhousei woodhousei, or, as I said, a Rocky Mountain Toad.

Description: A large, round-bodied toad with cranial crests (ridges on its head) and large spots. The belly is white or yellowish.

Size: From 2.15 to 4 inches in length, and almost as broad as it is long.

Range: The range goes from Montana and North Dakoka down the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains, takes in Arizona and Utah on the other sid of the Rockies, covers most of Texas and all of New Mexico.

Diet: Insects.

Habitat: They frequent many different habitats, but seem to prefer sandy soil and are more active after a rain or in humid weather.  Oftentimes they can be found foraging in early evening under a streetlight, where insects are more prevalent.

Population status: Little attention seems to have been paid to the conservation status of this creature, and I suppose since I’ve seen two this spring, they have to be fairly abundant. But it does seem there has been a reduction in range between the time my book, “A field guide to reptiles and amphibians” was published in 1958, and the current-day range map I found online.

Sound of its Calls: From California Herps, this is a group of Rocky Mountain Toads near an irrigation ditch in Riverside County, east of greater Los Angeles.

Photo credit: traveling.lunas photography from flickr creative commons