It was probably already in the 80's when Jerry found this little toad in the middle of the parking lot area of our Borrego Springs complex. It had come a long way from the pond at the nearby golf course. I imagine the journey took several days, with stops to shelter himself from the heat of the day. Luckily, many of the common areas are watered in the evenings with sprinklers and drip irrigation.


We set him under one such plant, with its own little drip hose. The sand was still damp from the night before, and the toad, obviously in need of moisture, flattened his body against the ground to absorb as much as he could.

I worried a little about all the pesticide that I think they use around the development, and hoped he wouldn't be affected, either through direct contact, or be eating poisoned bugs, but I had no way of knowing what or where they had actually sprayed, so we left him alone and wished him well.