Frogs, toads and earthworms were in the roadway, the roadside ditches and the adjacent farm fields. It was a warm, rainy spring night and I was driving home from a Harford Land Trust Board meeting. I slowed down as much as possible and swerved to try to avoid running over the creatures, but to no avail. There were too many sitting, crawling and hopping to avoid.

When I got home I put on boots, grabbed an umbrella and flashlight and walked the short distance back to take a closer look at what was happening. There were many species of earthworms and some gray tree frogs, green frogs, pickerel frogs and American toads. Further along the road and up a small knoll, in even greater numbers, were creatures I hadn’t expected – eastern spadefoot toads, the only species of spadefoot toad occurring east of the Mississippi River. In Harford County, they live only where the soil is soft and sandy enough for them to dig. They have a sharp growth of hard tissue on the bottom of their hind feet that allows them to dig vertically into soft soil where they can survive for weeks or months. Spadefoots are easy to recognize at a distance because they have 2 brownish yellow stripes running down either side of their back that creates a vase shaped pattern.

Suddenly, everything made sense. The other animals were making use of the night time moisture to move about. I was familiar with that behavior. But the spadefoot toads were using the conditions to breed. They are eruptive breeders and when conditions permit adults come to the surface to reproduce all at once. The small knoll I was standing on is a mound of sandy soil. Down the road in either direction the soil is more clayey, and there were no toads because that is not their habitat.

I was pleased that I had finally investigated this event, but I was also disappointed for not having done so sooner. I had seen this amphibian orgy before, but in the 10 years of living in the area, I had never looked closely, even though my house is less than a mile away.

The next morning was cloudy and cool as I walked back to the site I visited the night before. I wanted to estimate the carnage on the pavement, but I was too late. Although it was just 7 am, the vultures, crows, bluejays, blackbirds and other birds were consuming the last of the remains. Raccoons, opossums, foxes and skunks had probably feasted during the night. There was little left to see except for the abundant toad eggs in the water filled roadside ditches. The eggs would quickly hatch and almost as quickly become tadpoles and then toads. Life was renewing itself.

As I stood in the cool, gray light of dawn, I realized that this local phenomenon is doomed. The site is slated for development and the small population of spadefoot toads will soon be obliterated. Few people will know or care, but for me the loss will be personal. That is why I am a member of Harford Land Trust. Because of the Trust, not all of these small special places will perish.