Alytes obstetricans
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The common midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans) is a species of midwife frog in the family Alytidae (formerly Discoglossidae). It is found in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (although, in the latter, only as an introduction). Like other members of its genus (Alytes), the male toad carries the eggs around entwined on his back and thighs until they are ready to hatch.
Its natural habitats are temperate forests, dry forests, shrubland, rivers, freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, temperate desert, arable land, pastureland and urban areas. It is threatened by habitat loss. The common midwife toad can grow to a length of 5.5 centimetres (2.2 in) but is usually rather smaller than this, the females generally being larger than the males. It is broad and stocky and has a large head with prominent eyes, the pupils being vertical slits. The skin is mostly smooth with a few small warts and granules and a row of large warts down either side. The parotoid glands are small and there are additional glands in the under arm and ankle regions. There are three tubercles on each metacarpal. The colour is quite... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Midwife Toad sighting in Mercantour National Park on a given day, based on 85 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 5th most-seen of the 5 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Common Midwife Toad in Mercantour National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to February, the lowest months.
Between 9 pm and midnight
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Midwife Toad sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
5th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Common Midwife Toad sightings, Mercantour National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Picos de Europa National Park (Spain, about 50%), Pyrénées National Park (France, about 30%) and Cévennes National Park (France, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Anura
The closest relatives of the Common Midwife Toad that you can see in Mercantour National Park (order Anura, Frogs and Toads) are European Common Frog (about 80%) and Giant Toad (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Midwife Toad is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Mercantour National Park (85 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
