We were eating our lunch just now when Bookworm spied a huge toad beneath one of our birdfeeders. He sent me outside with the camera to get a shot, and naturally, I was happy to oblige:
This was as close as I wanted to get as he was rather larger and bumpier than any toad I've handled before. (Thank goodness for zoom lenses!) He hopped away from me slowly and then, spying an ant on the foundation wall, paused for just a moment - then ZAP! - he ate the ant in half a second or less! Quite nonchalantly, he then continued on his way, disappearing beneath our family room addition which is where we suspect most of our toad population resides. A "knot" of toads they would be called, though my favorite nature author would call them a "blessing." All bumpiness aside, I would tend to agree. :)
"In the early years we are not to teach nature as science, we are not to teach it primarily for method or for drill: we are to teach it for loving - and this is nature study." L. H. Bailey
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Thank you to everyone who left such nice comments after my planner post last night. I am working on a follow-up post with the autumnal ideas I mined from those books and my journals. I will also try to answer a few of the questions you have. Until then, have a lovely afternoon ... :)
