A springtime search for amphibian amour Ah, spring. Birds twitter. Blossoms sway in the breeze. And toads burst out of the muck, croak around the clock and lay mounds of gelatinous eggs.
Like many species, toads spend the spring looking for love.
"They have no cares in the world right now, except each other," says Courtney Peed, a naturalist who will lead a hike through the Oregon Ridge Nature Center in Cockeysville tonight.
She says this as she points to a pair of toads floating near the muddy bank of a pond. A copper-colored male clings onto the warty back of the much larger female. With eyes closed, he appears to nap while the female paddles through the water.
The songs of amorous amphibians are among the many signs of early spring at Oregon Ridge, a large park that encompasses forests, fields and wetlands just west of the sprawling Hunt Valley business park.
Dandelion leaves and feathery yarrow unfold from the soil. Purple skunk cabbage buds poke through the surface of a pond.
Male red-winged blackbirds perch on dried cattails above the toads, staking their territory. Soon they will be tending nests of young, but for now they chide each other with shrill calls.
Spring peepers, frogs about the size of a quarter, hide during the day but raise a ruckus at night.
In April, gray tree frogs, which can change color, will start to sing. Bullfrogs will begin their throaty chorus in early summer, Peed says.
At tonight's hike, Peed will lead more than two dozen nature lovers to three ponds where they can spy on amorous amphibians.
"For a lot of people, the only time they see a frog is when they're smushed in the road," says Peed.
All the slots for tonight's hike have already been reserved, but visitors can ask the naturalists how to find frogs and toads during regular park hours.
Many amphibians weather the winter by burrowing into the earth and falling into a semi-dormant state. In this area, wood frogs are among the first to awaken. They crawl out in early March and start looking for a mate.
In the ponds at Oregon Ridge, wood frogs have already laid thousands of eggs among the bleached stalks of last year's reeds. Close up, the eggs are about the size and shape of a blueberry. Tadpole embryos look like fat black commas suspended inside the clear eggs.
Many of the eggs will be eaten by other amphibians and fish. By laying so many eggs, parents increase the chance that some of their offspring will survive.
