While exploring in his grandmother's backyard (yes they have a putting green in their back yard) one evening Cyrus had an exciting discovery.
"there is something moving outside!!!"
He yelled as he came running in.
"its moving like this"
he tried to demonstrate with his frantic hands.
"I've never seen anything like it!!!"
If you live in the desert, and the sun is going down, and if you have a boy who is VERY excited about finding a new type of creature, you go running with him.
Rattlesnakes,
scorpions,
black widows,
tarantulas
(ok, taratulas are harmless, but still)
Much to my delight, he had found Toads. The American Spadefoot was grandma's guess. (I do have photos of her checking the little guys for clues, but the toads look like they think she is rather unpleasant, so I don't want to post them) She sat down and talked with my babies about the Toad's type of habitat, their feet that gives them their name, what they eat, and when they usually come out. What a fantastic lesson!
Squeals of laughter, in a world of magic. There were six of them. Six of the most loved wild toads in this region I would bet. I would like to thank my mother in law for being so well versed in Arizona reptiles, and I would like to thank those 6 little toads for bringing such joy to our day.
6 comments:
This is interesting; I have not seen nor heard of that many toads in one area (in the great Phx area) in a LONG TIME. When we were children, there was a canal down the street from our home (it's still there). My sisters and I took the large coffee cans down there one day and scooped up HUNDRED of baby toads and brought them back to our house to nuture. Hundreds of toads for 3 little girls is too much to care for, so we let some go. We were finding toads for days on end, most of them grew up. It was wonderful. Thanks for bringing back some lovely memories. Your family is precious. : ) Love Steph
what an exciting find! It looks like lots of fun for your kids. I found a frog in my chooks water bowl one day, what a dangerous pond it had found ( a dont know if chooks would try to eat a frog but I moved him just in case)
Frogs and toads are so exciting, and as slug eaters, they are very good things to have in the garden too. it is great for children to get their hands on nature like that. xx
What a cute treasure, all 6 of them! Plus a lesson on local nature. Lucky little ones.
Luciana
What fun! Don't you love the things kids get excited about?
I don't think there is anything quite as exciting as finding small toads and frogs. We were visiting some rich friends when I was little - they had this little private pone-in-a-glade, and there were half inch long frogs in it. LOVELY!! And the follow up discussion about habitat etc? Now, THAT's education!
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