American Toads mating.... with a Tennis Ball?

              

At this public canoe/kayak launch people sometimes toss balls into the lake for their dogs to chase.  Some balls are lost.   American Toads are convinced the tennis ball is a female.  

Toads are a terrestrial, woodland species, but every year toads come down to water in very early spring to mate.  The males arrive in the water first and begin trilling for the females to come.  And they do.  I was fortunate to be at one of the ponds on the cold April day that they began mating.  The last ice melted on this basin just days before and so the water they are in is close to 32 degrees F.