Sounds of Bufo boreas halophilus - California Toad

(=Anaxyrus boreas halophilus - Southern California Toad)

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Encounter Calls The call of the California Toad is a high -pitched plinking sound, like the peeping of a chick. A group of males calling has been compared to the sound of a distant flock of geese. Calls are given at night and during the day. Some herpetologists consider this sound a release call or encounter call, which is produced when males come into close contact, rather than an advertisement call, which is produced by a solo male in order to attract a female.
The following recordings were made at night at a small artificial desert pond in San Diego County. Several male toads were calling occasionally while floating on the water hidden in reeds or only partially. Also calling from the pond, but not heard here, were California Treefrogs and Red-spotted Toads.

This is a 4 second recording of a single short call.		This is a 3 second recording of a single short call.

This is an 8 second recording of a short series of calls produced by what appears to be two male toads.		This is a 14 second recording of a short series of calls produced by what appears to be two male toads.

This is a 6 second recording of a short series of agitated calls of one toad.
Release Calls A release call is produced by a male toad or an unreceptive female toad when a male toad or other animal gets on its back and grabs its sides in the position used for mating or amplexus. It's a toad's way of saying "Get off my back! Let go!"

This is a 9 second recording of the release calls produced by a toad of undetermined gender as it was grasped across the back.
You can listen to more recordings of this frog on this cd: Carlos Davidson - Frog and Toad Calls of the Pacific Coast - Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology