Thanks for sharing your recording Dan. It inspired me to go on a
mid-afternoon research spree.
Are you sure it's a toad? I reviewed the toads on the Frog and Toad
Calls of the Pacific Coast CD. The only toad they mention that calls
for such a long duration is the Great Plains Toad, but its call is
somewhat lower in pitch and the trill sounds more like a "jackhammer."
I went to the Lava Beds National Monument website, and the only toad
they list is the Boreal Toad which doesn't sound anything like yours.
Thinking your recording sounded more like a cricket than a toad, I did
a search on cricket sounds which led me to our friend Doug's website:
http://www.naturesongs.com/
In his insect sounds section I found a Tree Cricket recording that
sounds similar to your recording.=20
A bit more searching brought me to the Singing Insects of North
America website:
http://buzz.ifas.ufl.edu/index.htm
If you go to the Tree Crickets section, there are some that sound (at
least to me) just like your recording. What a great resource for
singing insect sounds.
I'll place my bet on Oecanthus californicus - Western Tree Cricket.
-John Hartog
--- In Dan Dugan <> wrote:
> Dear friends, I've uploaded a 1:20 192K stereo 1.8MB MP3 to my web site:
>
> http://www.dandugan.com/downloads/toad_sample.mp3
>
> It's toads I recorded in Lava Beds National Monument this summer. It
> sounds to me just like the red-spotted toads I recorded at Joshua
> Tree National Park. Could someone help with an ID?
>
> Thanks, Dan
>
> p.s. the roaring sound in the background and occasional flaps is a
> stream of Mexican free-tailed bats making their evening flyout.
>
> -dD-
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