Sunday, March 27, 2011

A Million Blessed Events

I promised you some wet photos this weekend.

At first glance the toad above seemed ungainly. Then I realized it was two toads--two toads in love. They're graceful, considering. You don't see toad sex every day. Well, maybe you do, but I don't.

What is the result of toad love? That would be a tadpole. Or many tadpoles.
I took this photo 12 days after the first one, at the same catch basin at Hahamongna Watershed Park. I took both photos before last week's rain. I hope this week we'll find thousands of baby toads.

31 comments:

J.J. in L.A. said...

Holy cow! That's a lot of babies! ; )

Dina said...

"Froggie went a courtin' and he did ride, uh-huh . . . "

irinapictures said...

First time I heard them doing.. babies, I thought one was killing another, very loud musical affair.

dive said...

Oh, I say! This is getting a little racy, Petrea.

Mister Earl said...

Is there a YouTube link for that? ;-)

Jilly said...

Love this. Fell about over my morning coffee. I remember the cane toads when I lived in Queensland and the racket they made when looking for a mate. Even a tiny frog who lives in a plant pot on my terrace here, makes enough noise to make you think there's a whole tribe of them.

Petrea Burchard said...

These two were totally silent at the moment I photographed them, but perhaps their courting, which I missed, was a "loud musical affair" (great phrase, Irina).

Mister Earl, I don't think I want to see that video.

How many of you are going to have Dina's song in your head all day?

ben wideman said...

Should this post get the UNSAFE FOR WORK tag?

Petrea Burchard said...

Maybe so, Ben. That top photo is pretty hot.

Pasadena Adjacent said...

wow! with recent events, lets hope the new crew can count all their toes.

John Sandel said...

"Campbell's Soup!"

—R. Brautigan

Petrea Burchard said...

The coyotes will have had some, but they can't eat them all.

Sidney said...

Irina, "Heard them doing...babies." Love that. I can't wait to use it, although I can't imagine where I will.

Anonymous said...

Haha! Crazy froggy sex. I'm blushing.

Bellis said...

More babies than Octomum! I expect the egrets are having a feast. Hope the tadpoles have turned into baby toads by the time the pond dries out. Thank goodness for this late rain.

By the way, the photo of the mating toads was a big hit with the folks on the Hahamongna Tour, Petrea.

Lakenheath Lancer '77 said...

Ahem. Sorry to be unsentimental, but they are not in love. It's just a one day stand.

Petrea Burchard said...

Sid: have to move back into an apartment, or go to a hotel.

Hiker, we're all embarrassed.

Glad they liked the photo, Bellis. I took it March 4th. The tadpole shot is from 3/12. There should be baby toads by now. I'll check soon.

Burst my bubble, Kelly.

Curly said...

So lovely!!!!!! I love toads and frogs (I kissed a lot of them lately... ;-)))... but no prince unluckily)
:-)

Speedway said...

Three Cheers for the BOFFO BUFO! They have contributed much to human reproductive efforts, as in this from Wikipedia:

"...An improvement arrived with the frog test, introduced by Lancelot Hogben, which still was used in the 1950s and allowed the frog to remain alive and be used repeatedly: a female frog was injected with serum or urine of the patient; if the frog produced eggs within the next 24 hours, the test was positive. This was called the Bufo test, named after the toad genus Bufo, which was originally used for the test. Other species of toads and frogs have been used later on.

We now owe it to the toads and their froggie cousins to preserve their habitat.

clarification attempt said...

The recent atomic cloud (events) to grace our fair land. Effects of radiation on amphibians (count your toes).

John Sandel said...

Wait—there are frog researchers with names like Lancelot Hogben? What is this, a Dickens novel?

Petrea Burchard said...

Daisy needs a prince! I know one charming Italian, but he's in Rome. Oh--but he needs to hire a translator...

Speedway, that's all very fascinating, but did anyone ask how the toad feels about it?

CA, I believe we're intact. I remember hundreds of tiny toads at Hahamongna just a few years ago. I think we're getting back to normal.

I noticed, J. I want to use that name somewhere in a piece of fiction if Dickens hasn't used it already.

Karen said...

Lancelot Hogben is right up there with the new Sherlock Holmes star, Benedict Cumberbatch. ;-)

Petrea Burchard said...

Those are the kinds of names a fiction writer loves to collect.

TheChieftess said...

Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog

Bellis said...

I went to look at these tadpoles today - there are thousands of them! But it takes at least 65 days before they're little froglets that can hop away. I may, after all, have to organize a rescue mission when the pond dries up. They already do this in Eaton Canyon, when toads lay their eggs in puddles.

Petrea Burchard said...

I didn't know that, Bellis. There's so much water at Hahamongna it seems it won't dry up that fast, but you never know.

Susan Campisi said...

Funny that they just glide across the pond while doing their thing.

Petrea Burchard said...

...apparently with musical accompaniment.

Vanda said...

Awww! Love is in the air...I mean in the pond.

Petrea Burchard said...

Yeah. Must be something in the water.