Fowler’s Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri)

Description: A small to medium-sized toad (5.1–7.5 cm; record 9.5 cm) with dry, warty skin and short legs. Dorsal coloration is usually brown or gray, occasionally greenish or reddish, sometimes with yellowish highlights, and often marked with a faint light stripe along the mid-dorsum. Typically, at least three warts occur within each dark dorsal spot, distinguishing it from the American Toad (A. americanus), which usually has only 1–2. Cranial ridges are smaller than the Southern Toad (A. terrestris).

Range and Habitat: Distributed across much of the eastern United States, though largely absent from the Coastal Plain of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It is most common in the Piedmont and lower Mountain regions in the Southeast. Occupies a range of forested habitats, often near temporary or permanent wetlands.

Habits: Primarily terrestrial and nocturnal; most often encountered on warm, humid summer nights. Breeding occurs from spring through early summer in wetlands ranging from roadside ditches to large ponds. Females deposit long strings of eggs, sometimes exceeding 25,000 per clutch, following heavy rains. Eggs hatch within days, and tadpoles metamorphose in about two months. Sexual maturity is reached in 1–3 years. Adults are insectivorous, feeding mainly on small invertebrates.

Call: A short, nasal bleat resembling a sheep’s call, lasting 1–4 seconds.

Conservation Status: Common throughout most of its range, with no legal protection in the Southeast. Populations are of conservation concern in parts of the northern range due to habitat loss, especially wetland destruction.