Anaxyrus woodhousii
Silhouette: Michael Scroggie, from original photograph by Gary M. Stolz, USFWS (original photograph in public domain). · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Woodhouse's toad (Anaxyrus woodhousii) is a medium-sized (4 inches or 10 centimetres) true toad native to the United States and Mexico. There are three recognized subspecies. A. woodhousii tends to hybridize with Anaxyrus americanus where their ranges overlap.
Woodhouse's toad was first described in 1854 by the French herpetologist Charles Frédéric Girard. He gave it the name Bufo woodhousii in honor of the American physician and naturalist Samuel Washington Woodhouse. The large genus Bufo was split by Frost et al. in 2006, with the North American species being included in the genus Anaxyrus and this toad becoming A. woodhousii. There are three recognised subspecies:
Rocky Mountain toad – Anaxyrus woodhousii woodhousii (Girard, 1854) East Texas toad – Anaxyrus woodhousii velatus (Bragg and Sanders, 1951) Southwestern Woodhouse's toad – Anaxyrus woodhousii australis (Shannon & Lowe, 1955)
At one time, Fowler's toad (Anaxyrus fowleri) was considered to be a subspecies. Woodhouse's toad is a robust amphibian and can grow to a maximum snout-vent length of 127 mm (5 in). The head has prominent cranial crests in front of and in between the eyes. The parotoid... Wikipedia →
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| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Badlands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Grand Canyon National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Death Valley National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Padre Island National Seashore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phoenix Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Oklahoma Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Schramm Education Center | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Medicine Park Aquarium & Natural Sciences Center | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Woodhouse's Toad sighting in Padre Island National Seashore on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 6th most-seen of the 8 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Woodhouse's Toad in Padre Island National Seashore on a given day, against under 5% in April and August–February, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Woodhouse's 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.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Woodhouse's Toad sightings, Padre Island National Seashore ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Badlands National Park (United States, about 40%), Grand Canyon National Park (United States, about 10%) and Death Valley National Park (United States, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Woodhouse's Toad is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Padre Island National Seashore (9 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.
