PHILADELPHIA — It's rush hour in Philadelphia for thousands
of baby toads as they hop across a busy residential street on a
rainy summer night.
Why do toadlets cross the road? To get to the woods on the other
side — where they will live, eat mosquitoes and grow up to be
full-sized American toads (bufo Americanus). After a couple of
years, they'll make the reverse trek as adults — unless they get
squashed by a car.
That's where the Toad Detour comes in.
The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education sets up a
roadblock each year in the Roxborough neighborhood, rerouting cars
so the amphibians can cross the two-lane street without fear of,
um, croaking.
The cycle starts in early spring when adult toads, which can fit in
the palm of your hand, emerge from the woods to breed. They cross
Port Royal Avenue, scale a 10-foot-high embankment and then travel
down a densely vegetated hill to mate in the abandoned Upper
Roxborough Reservoir. Their offspring — each about the size of a
raisin — make the journey in reverse about six weeks later.
So many baby toads were on the move Monday evening it looked like
the road's muddy shoulder was alive. Volunteers scooped them up in
plastic cups and deposited them on the habitat side of the
street.
"I didn't expect at all that there were going to be so many of them
in one area," said 17-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt as she held a cup with
more than a dozen toadlets. "And they're so tiny. They look like
bugs."
The detour program began in 2009 when a local resident noticed the
toad-filled road. City officials later granted permission to close
the street for a couple of hours every evening during both two-week
migration periods.
Organizers estimate they helped 2,400 adult toads cross the road
this spring, said volunteer coordinator Claire Morgan. And because
female toads can lay thousands of eggs, many more toads are
migrating the other way and need protection.
Though some will inevitably be squished when the roadblock is not
up, the toad population is not endangered, Morgan said. But
protecting wildlife is important, she said, and local residents
seem to support the project — especially after they volunteer to
help.
"We get some people that question it," said Morgan. "But after they
do it, they're hooked."
A baby toad sits along side a road, Wednesday, June 11, 2014, in
the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia. A humid and rainy
summer night makes for quite a rush hour in Philadelphia as
thousands of baby toads try to hop across a busy street
Cars pass a toad crossing sign, Wednesday, June 11, 2014, in the
Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia. A humid and rainy summer
night makes for quite a rush hour in Philadelphia as thousands of
baby toads try to hop across a busy street.
