Glorious Rain

We've had rain!  Two days in a row, our neighboring towns had heavy rain, and we had a few drops.  Then on the third day, we had rain for about half an hour.  The pastures are less crunchy.  Happy dance!  We even had enough rain to bring out a special visitor.  On the evening of our rain, I went down to the barn for bed check.  I left the porch light on, and when I walked back to the house, this spadefoot toad had come to the light to feast on the bugs the light drew.  I know toads and frogs are common, but in this arid country, it's rare to see one.

Spadefoot toads are pretty interesting.  See that long toe on the hind leg?  They use those toes to burrow backwards into the ground in a twisting motion, like putting out a cigarette.  They live underground, and only come to the surface when it rains.  Normally, they live up to 10 months of the year underground, but they've been recorded staying underground for all but 2 weeks.  Looks like ours had quite the feast on his visit.