Where do Toads go in Vermont Winters?
Great news again everyone! Inspired on a warm, sunny fall day at Seyon Lodge State Park, I watched a toad work its way up from the ground. Some of lodge guests, Chris and myself watched this happen and started asking each all sorts of questions about toads. As a cooler breeze hit our faces, we wondered: where do the toads go in the winter?
Remember the pile of books I had while I was researching toads? The article was accepted and published by Northern Woodlands in the Outside Story series. Yeah!
A non-profit organization, Northern Woodland mission is to: advance a culture of forest stewardship in the Northeast and to increase understanding of and appreciation for the natural wonders, economic productivity and ecological integrity of the region’s forests. Underwritten by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Outside Story series is a weekly ecology article that appears in newspapers across New Hampshire and Vermont.
You can read the article here.
Northern Woodlands is an awesome organization and if you are looking for some Christmas gifts, you can always browse their shop here.
I am pleased and thankful my toad article was accepted. I hope you enjoy this weeks article and learn where the toads go in the winter.
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And just for the heck of it, although this video and pictures below where taken in the spring, here is some other toad related activity we saw at Seyon:
Ah! Twice we took this garter snake out of the window well above and he kept putting himself back in there. Then we saw why.
This guy knew where to get a meal.
I love watching everything on National Geographic channel. I can view everything on the TV with no problem. But watching this toad get devoured in real life, I had to look away at times. It was so intense.
To me, it was an interesting observation how watching something on TV can lessen the impact or the ‘realness’ of an event.
Nature happening in front of our eyes.
There were so many cool animal experiences this past summer season at Seyon.
I hope you enjoy this weeks article inspired by our little toad friends.
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Well, we know where one toad went! I hope not too many others experienced the same fate. It’s all in the ‘circle of life’. Nice toad article in the Outside Series…
Yes, that little toad went to the snakes belly. Oh dear. It certainly is the circle of life. Now I can’t wait to look for emerging toads in the spring.
Man that snake was really hugging that toad hard! I mean really hugging him…. I guess they were married?
I heard that snakes hibernate in a big pile in a big pit in the woods. Never saw that but sometimes I daydream about being in there with them snakes.
Yeah…I don’t think that snake was hugging that toad. I think that snake made him lunch.
I have found a large pile of snakes hibernating together in a giant old log. When my sister and I were little, we always went snake hunting when my dad got home from work. We’d turn over rocks and logs looking for (mostly) garter snakes. One time we found ~25 all together in this decaying log. The three of us had a handful of garter snakes in each hand. My mom freaked – the result of many of our reptile hunts.
Oh dear! When watching nature shows I was happy when the prey got away. Nature does a wonderful job balancing the planet. Man not so much…sigh….. but article is a good reminder not to interfere except with a camera! I would have scared the snake away, I think. And snakes “still freak me out!” Especially when small children with snakes wrapped around them happily bring them home. Imagine that.
mare
Well, we had moved that snake twice out of the window well. When we went back again to check, that’s what we found. So then we left him until he had finished eating the toad. It was pretty crazy. I remember always being so excited for all my snake catches. Thanks for the comment! 🙂
Wow. Nice post Tiff. Congrats on getting your article published! You write very expressively and capture such incredible moments on camera.
Thanks – I think any writer is always pumped to get another article published! 🙂 Northern Woodlands is a really cool organization. Finding that snake eating the toad was just good luck, after that day we didn’t find another snake in the window well for the rest of the season. Speaking of cameras, we just go the Go Pro camera and can’t wait to start experimenting with it in Africa! 🙂
Hi there, just wanted to say, I enjoyed this blog post.
It was helpful. Keep on posting!
Thanks Launn. Glad you enjoyed. 🙂