Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Helper in the garden

Photo by Barry Wallace
It's only 3" long, is mostly nocturnal, and eats many insects and worms.   Much of what it eats are considered pests by the gardener.   The American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus) inhabits Ontario, Quebec, most of the eastern maritime provinces, and the eastern U.S.A.   Its diet includes spiders, slugs, centipedes, earthworms, meal worms. crickets, ants, moths and a number of other small invertebrates.   We have a few toads in our garden.   As an alternative to insecticides, toads are always welcome in our flower beds.

A tree-toad loved a she-toad
Who lived up in a tree.
He was a two-toed tree-toad,
But a three-toed toad was she.

The two-toed tree-toad tried to win
the three-toed she-toad's nod,
For the two-toed tree-toad loved the ground
That the three-toed tree-toad trod.

But the two-toed tree-toad tried in vain,
He couldn't please her whim.
From her tree-toad bower, with her tree-toad power. 
The she-toad vetoed him.
                                                                         
                                                                              - David Van Alstyne
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace 

2 comments:

  1. We used to see a lot but never a one since the condo developments round here!
    Love the poem!

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