The humble toad :)

[ZinniaZ]

Here is a cute guy found while I was planting tomatoes this evening. I like him. He is not the normal toad we see around here. He is greener and paler. I haven't seen the speckled belly either before.

[Icatsme]

Awww what a little darling.

[python.princess]

cute lil feller! his eyes look metallic! way cool!

[ZinniaZ]

Yeah I loved his bronze leafed eyes! Does anybody know what kind of toad he is?

[mischevious21]

Aww, hes cute!! i havent seen any like that either, of course I'm in MI and I dont know what state your in, so yea. lol

[ZinniaZ]

I am in maine. Our normal toads are brown and black. I have been searching toad species and haven;t found a good site for looking at them and I haven't found any pix of one like this guy.

[edie]

It was pretty hard finding good sites with amphibians from Maine, the only thing I found that looks close to your toad is Bufo americanus - but I don't know a thing about toads so I'm probably wrong - they seem to have that same speckled belly

[ZinniaZ]

Hey Edie,
Thanks for looking. I have had trouble finding amphibian sites for maine as well. I can find sites identifying the calls, but he didn't speak when I was holding him. I googled Bufo Americanus, and that may be him. The image search showed a few similar to him with the belly but none that pale green color. Maybe he is a juvenile or maybe the color is variable. I sent the photo to a frog and toad guy at a university-- one of the toad pix linked to their site of pictures of toads, etc. So maybe he will tell me what it is. We shall see.

[edie]

Hey Edie,
Thanks for looking. I have had trouble finding amphibian sites for maine as well. I can find sites identifying the calls, but he didn't speak when I was holding him. I googled Bufo Americanus, and that may be him. The image search showed a few similar to him with the belly but none that pale green color. Maybe he is a juvenile or maybe the color is variable. I sent the photo to a frog and toad guy at a university-- one of the toad pix linked to their site of pictures of toads, etc. So maybe he will tell me what it is. We shall see.

Yeah, it was hard for me to find a toad with that same color, but I know that the spadefoot toads we have here differ in color as well, here are 2 that I found in my yard one night:



Let us know what what the guy says!

[ZinniaZ]

He emailed back! It is definitely an American Toad, Bufo Americanus. Here is what he said:

Well, that location confirms that the toad is an American Toad (Bufo americanus). Although its color pattern is a bit unusual, not all American toads have the standard brown background color. The position of the ridges on the back of the head, the one or two warts per dark blotch on the back, and the dark markings on the chest all help ID this individual as an American toad.

I thought it was terrific that some biology professor at Cortland University took the time to id a toad for me and a fairly ordinary one at that. Good call, Edie! You win the toad identification prize today.