Meet the Gulf Coast Toad

If you live in Houston (or anywhere along the Texas coast) you've probably seen, as well as heard, this guy:

When I was a kid, a hard summer rain followed by the nearby croaking of these toads meant that dozens of them would be found mating and laying their eggs in the puddles of standing water along the neighborhood streets the following morning. My brother and myself, along with other neighborhood kids, would wake up early to observe and play (or, in the toad's point of view, harass) them until they finally dispersed from the puddles late in the morning. Not long afterwards, the strings of eggs they laid would hatch and the puddles would become full of tadpoles.

But this is actually the first Gulf Coast Toad I've come across in awhile; I picked it up as it has hopping along the driveway in front of the house a few nights ago. Perhaps I don't notice them as much as I used to because as I've become older my interest in these animals has waned. More likely, however, is the fact that these toads are not as common in the neighborhood as they once were; major reconstruction of all neighborhood streets took place a few years back, and the depressions where rainwater would collect and these amphibians would congregate were eliminated, thereby reducing their neighborhood presence.

They're still around, though, as this guy attests, and I still hear them at night after a heavy rain (albeit these days further off in the distance). Given the rains we've been having over the past few weeks, they've had a lot to croak about.