Observing and Reporting on our Backyard!
I just found this very cool website & group; The Michigan Society of Herpetologists. I am a “backyard” herpetologist. 
I’m hoping to be able to meet the group and see their displays at the Reptile Weekend Celebration at the Binder Park Zoo. Sounds like a very fun time! It is August 7th & 8th.
Check them out online! They even have a Facebook page!
So, the large toad that we saw on May 19th was back in the yard in the middle of the day today! This was a rare opportunity for some really vibrant toad photos. I’m quite pleased with these.
Saw this very large toad one evening while the dogs and I were cleaning and picking up. This is the largest toad we’ve seen this year.
So, I haven’t been home much during daylight hours and therefore, haven’t seen a lot of birds. But, I have been spotting quite a few toads in the evenings. Here are 2 different toads I saw tonight.
I spotted another American Toad (bufo americanus). Had an opportunity for a few great shots.
Above is an American toad in the yard, near the side door. We’ve been seeing a few toads this year, but not a lot too close to the house yet. Steve has seen some while mowing.
Here’s the toad along with measurement information.
So, we’ve been really busy lately, and I REALLY need to post some pictures. Here’s a run down of what’s been happening:
Toads: We’ve seen several toads. Steve tucked on into the stump in the backyard birdfeeding area and it hung out there all day. No toads have had any disease/wound similar to the toad we removed. We did find a frog dried up and being devoured by ants, but I think it overheated and dried out in the sun rather than having died of some illness.
Yard: We planted some containers with vegetables and herbs. Our earlier plantings in the flower beds are doing really great. The vegetables have also really taken off. I’m feeling like I might have a green thumb this summer!
Bird Feeding: We ran out of seed almost completely. I just purchased some new seed. I was able to get Black Oil Sunflower seeds on a sale for $12.99 for 50 pounds. Peanuts are still priced really high, about $39.99 for 50 pounds. We started making our own hummingbird and oriole nectar for considerable savings. It isn’t really that hard and they do seem to show a strong preference for the homemade nectar as opposed to the purchased nectar. I also bought Thistle seed, a high energy mix that includes sunflower hearts. This cost $23.99 for a 16 pound bag. I was able to get some suet and seed cakes on a pretty good sale. So, we are now set on seed for a while. I’m going to monitor how long it lasts. I purchased this seed on Friday, May 22nd at Dotty’s Pet Center in Clio.
Bird Watching: We have seen several Wild Turkeys and I have some photos to share. 
That is pretty exciting. We only had a couple of loners, not a whole flock. 
I’ve been spending a lot of time on various birdwatching websites. I’ve really been learning a lot. We haven’t had any other unusual visitors as of late. We have seen a lot of courtship and nest-building activity in various species. We found a robin’s nest that was overturned during high winds. All of the eggs were cracked and the nest was on the ground. We also spotted 2 or 3 snakes in the area. I wonder if garter snakes are able to eat robin’s eggs?
Dogs and Other Stuff: We actually have spent quite a bit of time lately away from the backyard. I’ve spent some time with the guys from the Gera Old Tractor Days Association trying to get them to come to the show at Steiner Tractor Parts. Also, I am going to be attending their show in June to pass out catalogs and possibly deliver some parts. We spent Saturday May 23rd at a dog party at our friends’ house. They have a lot of bird houses in their backyard that are all occupied. I photographed one of the birds occupying a house and it seems to be a House Wren. These friends live only a mile or so away from us. I’ve never seen the House Wren before, but this really piqued my interest in putting up some bird boxes. We also really need to hang our Bat House. Here’s a picture of the House Wren. 
It’s kind of strange, because I was trying to figure out what bird it was. I never saw it hold its tail in the air. I’ve checked the bird book though and I cannot really find any other bird with similar markings on the tail and wing. Also, the bill is very long and slender for the bird to be some type of sparrow. If anyone else identifies this bird, please let me know what you think it is. Also, There were 8 dogs at the party. I plan on doing a separate blog about the Dog Party. It was a lot of fun. For the most part, the dogs all got along. Most of them know each other, but we haven’t had them all in the same place at the same time quite like this.
Then, on Sunday, We went to the Frankenmuth Dog Bowl with some friends from work. This was a lot of fun. I’ll do another post covering the dog bowl in greater detail. It basically is a Frankenmuth festival where you are welcome and encouraged to bring your dog to share in the festivities. They also have a variety of competitions and demonstrations. Quincy’s Dog Day Care, Key-Lore had a boot at the dog bowl. Quincy was able to see her friend, JoJo, but they were both so tired, they couldn’t even really play. We were able to see many dogs. Quincy was the only Basset Hound at the dog bowl and so she was a real attention grabber. Our friend Andrew has 2 Italian Greyhounds and they were also quite popular with the crowds. I really loved seeing the Mastiffs and Saint Bernards. I forgot my camera, but my friend Suzette took a lot of pictures and I’ll be sure to post some photos of our crew later.
Well, it has been a really busy week and it looks like the next couple are going to be equally busy. I wish that I could relax like a basset hound.
So, since my previous post, I’ve spoken with the folks over at Toadily Toads about this American Toad. She advised me that if I observed the toad again, that I should not leave it out in the environment in case it is contagious. Since she advised me of this concern, I hadn’t seen the toad. Then, this afternoon, we went out to do some weedwhacking and mowing and this guy was right in the middle of the yard. 
We immediately snatched him up and put him in a bucket. I then started trying to contact Wildlife Rehabilitators. I eventually reached a nice lady from Ann Arbor that works with turtles and other reptiles and amphibians. I found her through a website, Friends of Wildlife. This was by far one of the most informative websites about wildlife rescue and rehabilitation that I was able to find today. I was really glad to have run across this resource. Before I was able to speak with the Friends of Wildlife, I had spoken with Dustin at Keylore Kennels, he agreed to take care of the toad next week and find someone at MSU to take a look at it. He knows some folks in Lansing that he thinks will be able to help.
Both the Friends of Wildlife and Dustin think that the issue here might be some type of tragedy that befell this toad. This would be a major relief because it would mean that the issue is isolated to this one individual. I’m going to keep him over the weekend and transfer him to Dustin’s care on Monday.
I’m worried about the toad because he isn’t really exhibiting “normal” toad behavior. I’ve seen him outside primarily during daylight or dusk hours, and never at night. I hope that someone at MSU will take an interest and be able to tell us what happened to this little guy. I will certainly be posting any updates that I get here.
Here are a few more views of the toad from today.
So, we were able to finally observe some more American Toads (bufo americanus) in our yard. Tonight we spotted a medium sized toad hopping along the cement pad in front of our garage door. I was able to snap a few photos.
It is a little difficult to see, but he measured just over 2”. After we put the camera away, we saw another smaller toad, about half the size of this one. I wasn’t able to get any shots of that one. Both toads were very active. The number of insects around is still pretty minimal. The rest of this week it isn’t supposed to be that warm, so this might be our last glimpse of these little guys for a while.
We fed the birds last night and so today was a pretty good birdwatching day. We also used the last of our thistle seed last night and the last of the sunflower seed, so I’m going to start tracking my seed usage and costs to get a handle on that. Also, to share that information with people that are interested in beginning to watch birds. It can get a little expensive sometimes.
Anyways, today was a great day. I got the flower bed alongside the red shed cleaned out. The day lilies are coming up nicely, but I think that I lost my foxglove over the winter. There were a lot of worms in the bed and I loosened up the soil to get ready to plant some annuals. Steve cleaned out the gutters on the house and put up the aerial dog tie out. I think that Quincy is really going to like that. She’ll be able to move about the backyard better.
After we came inside and were cooking dinner, I saw an unusual visitor to the backyard, an Eastern Towhee. He was in the flower bed that I had just cleaned out either finding seeds or insects. He came back several times, going between the red shed flower bed and a brush pile just inside of the tree line. I never saw him do the signature towhee move according to my bird book, the double leg hop or scoot backwards. I have only ever observed this bird one other time here, and that was last spring. Maybe they just migrate through this area and don’t really stay.
We also saw the wounded toad from last night again. We had put him in the flower bed near the red shed last night, but today he was on the side porch. Steve set him down in the dirt by the red shed. I am sure that he is the same toad from last night. We picked him up to make sure because we could see some marks on the side of his body.
It has been raining now all afternoon, so later this evening, Quincy and I will have to go out on a toad hunt. We’ve been hearing lots of calling, but have checked every night and not seen any toads, other than our wounded one. Hopefully, I’ll have more to report later.