What a coincidence, I almost started a toad thread too.. :) Last week I walked out on my front sidewalk at night and what looked like a leaf suddenly hopped into the garden bed when I walked by! It was a big fat toad! I was so excited because he is the first toad I've seen in the yard after living here almost 5 years. I even put a large plant saucer down on the ground last year and fill it with water so the toads would access to water. (The birds drink from it sometimes too.) I think he might be living under the bulb and daylily foliage. Of course I had to run and grab the camera -

I have been folowing you and your brother for a long time. It's nice to meet! I love nature in all its forms, and am continually trying to learn. Now, back to Mr. Frog: He seems to lack the dark eye stripe of the Upland chorus frog. He was the size of a thumbnail. Quite red on the back. I am sorry about the picture; he kept trying to get away from me, and I was alone and didn't want to grab him for a picture and have him jump out of my hand.

Very belated response to this last reply, but this is not a Texas Toad, it is an East Texas Toad (or Fowler's Toad - depending on whose taxonomy you follow). Fowler's/East Texas Toad (A. fowleri) is a very different species than the Texas Toad (A. speciosus).

That is just a juvenile toad. They can vary in color. There are two toad species in Michigan, the American Toad and the Fowlers Toad. Can't tell which this is from the photo.