A Guide to California's
Reptiles and Amphibians

Spea hammondii - Western Spadefoot

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Advertisement Calls

An advertisement call is the most well-known call of a frog. 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. Frogs 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 Western Spadefoot is a short loud trill, like a quick snore, lasting less than one second. Males call at night while floating on the water, often in large aggregations.

The following recordings were made at night in early March at shallow rain pools (shown below in daylight) in Butte County on a very windy night. Sierran Treefrogs, wind, and suburban sounds are heard in the background.

This is a 1 second recording of the advertisement calls of a single male Western Spadefoot.

This is a 22 second recording of the advertisement calls of several male Western Spadefoots.

This is a 23 second recording of the advertisement calls of a male Western Spadefoot.

Calling location, Butte County

Butte County Breeding Habitat

The following recordings were made at night in mid March at a distance of 200 - 300 ft. from a creek flowing through Alameda and San Joaquin Counties. Sierran Treefrogs are heard in the background. Beside the creek were rain pools. Some of the locations are shown below in daylight.

This is a 61 second recording the advertisement calls of a large group of Western Spadefoots made in San Joaquin County.

This is a 25 second recording the advertisement calls of a small group of Western Spadefoots made in San Joaquin County.

This is a 60 second recording the advertisement calls of a small group of Western Spadefoots made in Alameda County. Along with the Sierran Treefrogs, a Western Toad can be heard calling in the background.

This is a 60 second recording the advertisement calls of a small group of Western Spadefoots made in Alameda County.

Eggs and amplexing spadefoots were found in this slow creek in San Joaqin County near the location where calling was recorded.

Tadpoles and eggs were found in this rain pool in Alameda
County at the location where calling was recorded.

Waveform and Sonogram

This is a recording of a single advertisement call of a Western Spadefoot recorded at night in Butte County. The image on the right is a visual representation of this call. Click on it to see a larger image. Click here for information about how to read the waveform and sonogram images.

You can listen to more recordings of Western Spadefoots 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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