Speaking of migrations, the toads’ annual pool party at my pond in West Danby is in full swing, a good 2 - 3 weeks ahead of schedule. (Over the past 14 years I’ve come to expect their gathering to occur in the very last days of April / the first week of May)
For years the local Crows harvested toads in a gruesome slaughter right on the dike, slitting the poisonous skins and taking only some internal organ, perhaps the liver. In more recent years I’ve watched them carry off entire toads, presumably to conduct the evisceration elsewhere, perhaps even at nest-side. Yesterday I could tell that the Crows are well aware of the gathering, but I haven’t yet seen them take any toads. Perhaps it’s too early in their own breeding season for them to need this potentially poisonous resource? The bears are up and about. -Geo -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
