American Toads began returning to my pond two nights ago for their annual breeding event. Their night singing is really delightful (if you care for that sort of thing), but they do run the risk of daytime predation as they cross the grassy dike. The predators are American Crows. The toads were undisturbed yesterday, but this morning a saw from a distance that one Crow was busy down on the dike. I went down a little later to see what might remain in the grass. There were some entrails and lots of tiny unlaid eggs in the grass, but the familiar disemboweled corpse was not to be seen. The toads are singing now in the daylight, and more are heading toward the pond...
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