In April, when I published this post about toad mating day, one of my readers asked what a nest of toad eggs looks like. I was able to describe them and send a link of a website that had pictures, but I never saw any nests of toad eggs to get pictures of.

Two weekends ago, May 6th and 7th, what I thought were frogs were loudly and proudly singing their mating song.

I wandered the edge of the pond until I found the “party”.

It was a two-day event.

I took some pictures on Saturday and more on Sunday.

On Monday the frogs were quiet. I went to the area of the pond where the “party” had taken place and discovered eggs. It wasn’t until I did a little research on the internet that I realized that these are toad eggs. The difference being that frog eggs are laid in a large cluster while toad eggs are in strings like beads. What I thought were frogs were really toads.

They may be a bit difficult to see in the photos but the eggs look like black strings under the water.

Closer up they look like tiny black beads enclosed in a clear gel-like tube.

I couldn’t even begin to guess how many toads laid all these eggs or how many tadpoles would emerge from them. It’s my understanding that these eggs could take anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks to hatch. It largely depends on the temperature of the water.

It was Friday, May 12, when they hatched.

These are probably the tiniest tadpoles I have ever seen. (Can you make out some of the tadpoles in the picture?) They were making their way to the beach area where the water is shallow and thus warmer.

It will now be two to three months before these little wigglers grow legs and lose their tales. That is when they will leave the pond and spend most of their lives on land.

Thanks for visiting.