A Guide to California's
Reptiles and Amphibians

Sounds of Anaxyrus microscaphus - Arizona Toad

(=Bufo microscaphus)

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Click the play button or the speaker icon to listen to an mp3 sound file.

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Male toad in calling position.

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 advertisement call of the Arizona Toad is a fast high-pitched trill, averaging 5.7 seconds long, rising in pitch, and ending abruptly. Calls are made at night.

This is a 7 second recording of the advertisement call of a male Arizona Toad calling at night from a sandbar at the confluence of a still small creek and a flowing river in Washington County, Utah (shown below.) In the background are Canyon Treefrog calls and the sounds of the river.

This is a 52 second unedited recording of the advertisement calls of several male Arizona Toads calling at night from a sandbar at the confluence of a still small creek and a flowing river in Washington County, Utah (shown below.) The river can be heard in the background.

Release Calls

A release call is produced by a male toad or an unreceptive female toad when a toad or other animal (including a human hand) grabs it across the back. It's a toad's way of saying "Get off my back! Let go!"

This is an 8 second recording of the release calls of an Arizona Toad.

This is a 9 second recording of the release calls of an Arizona Toad.

Waveform and Sonogram
This a visual representation of the 7 second male advertisement call heard above. Click on it to see a larger image. Click here for information about how to read the waveform and sonogram images.

Short Videos

Several male Arizona Toads calling and interacting at night at the edge of a small creek next to a river in Washington County, Utah, including two examples of a male attempting amplexus with another male who then makes release calls. Canyon Treefrogs can be heard in the background.	A short example of a male calling at night.	A male gives a release call when he is picked up.

You can listen to more recordings of Arizona 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.

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