Why did the toad cross the road? To get to the other side of course!

Last night I went up to Ryder Lake to check out the annual Western Toad migration. The Fraser Valley Conservancy is doing a fantastic job of making sure the tiny toadlets get across safely, with road closures in effect for most of the morning and evening during the migration.

The temperate wetlands where the western toads breed (along with red-legged frogs, Northwestern salamanders and Pacific tree frogs) are separated from their adult forest habitat by a double lane road (thanks humans). The habitat segregation results in a mass migration across the road two times during the year, pre-and post breeding. Mass migration of the newly emerged juveniles takes place over a week or so in late July, which unfortunately co-incides with peak summer traffic along the routes.

For the most part local motorists are respecting the rules, which is excellent news. Although there was still a good amount of toad-roadkill, the general consensus from Lisa Fox of the Fraser Valley Conservancy is that there is less carnage than in past years.

To witness these tiny specs hopping across the road was really incredible. At times it looked as though the entire road was moving. We had to tread very carefully to make sure that we didn’t step on any of the penny-sized toadlets at our feet! More footage of our experience will be comin’ at you in the near future, until then enjoy these beautiful photos shot by my partner in crime Matt Hawkins.