Alytes obstetricans
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
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 |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Common Midwife Toad sighting in Picos de Europa National Park on a given day, based on 52 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 4th most-seen of the 8 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Common Midwife Toad in Picos de Europa National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September and October, the lowest months. That is one of Picos de Europa National Park's driest months, with about 75 mm of rain against 220 mm in November.
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.
Yes
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Common Midwife Toad sightings, Picos de Europa National Park has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come 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 Picos de Europa National Park (order Anura, Frogs and Toads) are Giant Toad (about 50%), Galician Common Frog (about 30%) and Iberian Frog (about 10%), 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 Picos de Europa National Park (52 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.
