Their "trill" is an accurate description of their sound. Don't be surprised if you find a few that appear to drown. It's a fact of their existence; they go into a sort of death grip and hold one another too long sometimes. My skimmer box is a popular place for the toads on colder nights and bright days. I checked and had about thirty in the box today. They make their way out at some time. After they lay their eggs you'll see their slimmy eggs lines, that's what I call 'em, strung through the water from side to side. In a month or so tadpoles emerge and grow bigger and bigger. Tadpoles will swim around for a few weeks it seems until one or two bright afternoons you'll see all these little toads popping around on the edges of the water garden. They just seem to make their way out -- I have a rock edge on most of my garden. Most will not be seen again. Every so often I'll turn over a rock or open the skimmer's cover in the summer and see a young toad. They grow pretty fast through our long summers here in Kansas. They're obviously feasting on insects that are abundant -- a good thing for any garden.

I guess that is the answer. I have an old, small window screen that drops right into the rocks around my skimmer. Simple answer to a not too informed question. I guess I worried about displacing the toad, frustrating it with loss of preferred home in the skimmer, and finally having it move away. Seems such a creature of habit and I know nothing of behavior. Thanks for the guidance.

It sounds like a North America Toad. I found some tad poles and put them into my pond in Pa. We had about 50 become toads. Three years later we had about 30 come back (this year)to mate. They are only around for about a week and then they leave untill the following year. They are great to watch. You are very lucky to have them call your pond home.We moved this year (a half mile away)and I am trying to get more tad poles to start again. Good luck! David

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 -