Sounds of Anaxyrus cognatus - Great Plains Toad

(=Bufo cognatus)

Advertisement Calls


An advertisement call is the most well-known call of a toad. It is produced by a male during the breeding season to attract females of his own species. It can also serve an agressive function to defend his calling site by warning rival males of his presence. Toads usually make the calls around bodies of water that are suitable for breeding and egg laying. These calls can be heard during the evening and at night, and sometimes during daylight at the peak of the breeding season.

The call of the Great Plains Toad is an explosive jackhammer-like metallic trill lasting from 5 seconds to almost a minute. It can be almost deafening when heard from a close distance.

This is a 10 second unedited recording of a nocturnal advertisement call of a single male toad calling from a flooded field in Riverside County, California (shown below.)

This is an 18 second recording of a nocturnal chorus of a large group of toads calling from an irrigation pond in Riverside County, California (shown below.)

This is a 21 second recording of a nocturnal advertisement chorus of many Great PlainsToads, calling from a small pond in the grasslands of Cochise County, Arizona in August. Insects and bloodthirsty mosquitoes can be heard in the background.

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!"

Two male toads call at night from shallow pools at the edge of an irrigated agricultural
field in Riverside County. Other calling toads can be heard in the background.

You can listen to more recordings of Great Plains Toads on this cd:

Carlos Davidson - Frog and Toad Calls of the Pacific Coast - Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology



and on the cd that comes with this book:

Lang Elliott, Carl Gerhardt, and Carlos Davidson - The Frogs and Toads of North America - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.