14 on the Air, Still looking for a few more toads

Toad 21 being released after getting fitted with his winter transmitter

It has been a busy start for our telemetry study this fall.  In the past 2 weeks we have found 17 toads and fit them all with small temporary transmitters.  Two toads have slipped their belts and were nowhere to be seen when we went to locate them for one of their weekly check-ins.  All we found was the transmitter hiding in some vegetation.  We have also removed one belt from a small male, as we need to try and even out the distribution of our study sample throughout the project area.  We had three toads on one property and we decided to only follow the larger female at this site. Because this female is much larger than some of our males, we have been able to fit her with a 9 month transmitter which will hopefully take us through the winter and well into spring, as long as she does not slip out of her belt too. At present we have 14 toads on the air and we are continuing to search for more adult toads for our hibernation study. Our goal is to have 15 on the air throughout the fall and winter.

We would like to give a shout out to some of our Toadally Awesome volunteers.  

Finding toads for our study is a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack. There are several things that make finding toads a little challenging: they are mostly nocturnal, they prefer to hunker down during the day under vegetation or in other hiding places; they have excellent camouflage and they are relatively small compared to other wildlife.  Last year we found 8 toads by driving along roads on dark, and usually rainy nights.  This year we have been fortunate to have some great volunteers looking for toads on their properties and calling us when they find one.  We have been able to fit these animals with belts and then release them back where we found them.  It will be interesting to see if the toads from peoples' gardens behave any differently from those that we have found associated with road edges.

Special thanks goes out to Darren and Wendy, Rose, Morris and Corrin, Lisa, Arlene, Cherie, Helen, and Susan (don't worry you will find one Susan).

Here are some of our volunteers 

with their toads

Arlene with toad 22, aka "Teddy"

Toad 22 was found on the road in front of Arlene's house on Sept.18th.  He moved to the back of Arlene's property and has spent the past 7 days in an old, decaying stump under a large maple tree.  A perfect place to hide during the day and forage at night.  

Cherie with toad 24, aka Prince Charming

Toad 24 was found by volunteer Cherie, while she was out working in her beautiful garden on Sept. 21st. We fit him with a transmitter that afternoon and released him where he was first seen.  We went back to Cherie's garden on Sept 24th to check on Prince Charming and he hadn't moved far, less than 5 meters from where we released him.

If you see a toad in your yard, please catch it and place it in a large bucket with a tight fitting lid with air holes.  Make sure to have some moist leafy vegetation in the bottom of the bucket.  Call us right away and we will come to see if your toad can be part of our study. We are especially interested in toads from the western side of our study area (see the map below).  

Join us tonight, September 22 at 7 pm to learn about our study and find how you can get involved.

As of September 21st, we have 13 toads on the air!! 

Toad 10 on September 13th, 2015

We are aiming to follow 15 toads this fall/winter and would really like to try and get two more adult toads from the western region of our study area. If you live near Stotlz Campground or spend time on trails in that area, we would love to have your help finding toads for our study.  Please join us tonight for our talk to learn more about how to handle toads and what to do if you find one.  Or send us an email and we will contact you.

Telemetry is Under Way!!

Thanks to some amazing volunteers we have two toads officially "on the air" as of Tuesday September 8th.  Darrren and Wendy found two male adult toads while working in their garden and called us to come and fit them with transmitters for this fall.  We will be heading out later today to track where they have moved to over the past 40 hours or so.  

Toads 9 and 10 fitted with transmitters and ready for release.

Two more toads found!!

Another rock star volunteer, Rose, found two more toads last night on her way home from the fire hall.  We will be fitting toads 11 and 12 later today and releasing them where Rose found them.  

Toad 11

Follow that toad.....

We would love help finding toads this fall.  If you are the kind of person that does not mind going for a walk at dusk or in the dark, we would love to meet you at our public meeting on Sept. 22nd at the Sahtlam Fire Hall at 7 pm.  We will give more details on what to do if you find a toad and where to look. Hope to see you there.

Our 2014 telemetry pilot study year 

was a success!  

Last fall we successfully tracked 8 adult toads and found 6 hibernacula (hibernating locations).   We monitored the hibernating sites through the winter and in the spring we were lucky to have one of our toads lead us to a new (previously unknown to us) breeding site in the Sahtlam area.

First toad fitted with a transmitter on Oct 21, 2014 and released later that same night.

Transmitter belt

We fitted each toad with a small belt that has a little radio transmitter and released the animals where we first found them. 

Elke using the H-antenna to locate the signal
from a toad with a transmitter                            

Using a hand held radio receiver, we went out on a weekly basis to locate each individual to follow their movement patterns and identify winter hibernation sites.

Shari using the receiver without an antenna to hone in on the
exact location of a toad                                                             

Toad 1 bedded down in leaf litter in late October.

 At each radio-location a visual of the toad was obtained if the animal was at or near the surface. On occasion the toad was handled to check belt fit and to monitor skin condition. For the majority of the radio-locations, only a photograph was taken to minimize stress for the animal.

Toad 8 after emergence from winter hibernation.

Four toads were visually observed after emergence from hibernation starting in early January which coincided with average daily temperatures at or above 6 degrees. 

Telemetry 2015 

The Western Toad winter hibernation radio telemetry project is starting up again this September and will be running until approximately March 2016.  We will be looking for adult toads starting in early to mid-September and would like to have 15 toads on the air.  We will then track and monitor these toads on a regular basis to try and identify where they choose to spend the winter months.  

Public Meeting 

We are planning a project update talk and training session on Tuesday September 22nd from 7 pm to 8:30 pm at the Sahtlam Fire Hall.  We are also hoping to get some media coverage this fall to help raise the awareness of this project.  One of the biggest challenges that we face is access to private property as we follow toads throughout the landscape.  We would greatly appreciate the support and cooperation of land owners regarding access if a toad moves onto their property, as we do not want to trespass and we respect peoples’ privacy.  If you live in the Sahtlam area, please talk to your neighbours and encourage them to join us at the public meeting this September to learn more about our project.

Calling all volunteers!  

Tracking toads in December 2014                        

We will be looking for adult toads this fall (Sept. through Nov. 2015) and could use the help of volunteers with this task.  Please keep an eye out for these animals when you are working in your garden or enjoying the great outdoors.  Evening walks on those rainy fall days (which we hope are coming soon) are also a good time to find amphibians as they move around the landscape.  If you find an adult toad, (about the size of your fist), place it in a large bucket with a lid with air holes and some damp leafy material.  Contact us immediately and we will come to fit it with a transmitter and release it where you found it.  We will be giving more details and training on what to do if you find a toad at the public meeting in September. 

If you have any questions or want to get involved, please contact us at:

duncantoads@gmail.com or
Shari: 250 597 7473
Elke: 250 802 7647