The search for the Great Basin spadefoot

How far would you drive to see and photograph a frog?

Well, a toad actually. Or to be absolutely accurate, a spadefoot, a little burrowing anuran of the family Pelobatidae. How far? Not too far, you say. But that statement really means nothing. It needs to be quantified. Would you go 100 miles? Maybe. 200 miles? Well, for a good reason, maybe. But the reason would have to be good. 500 miles? Nope. Never.

I needed a photo of a Great Basin spadefoot, Spea intermontana, and I had already failed on two attempts, each of which entailed a drive from Florida to southern California and back. On the second attempt I had met up with Gary Nafis, Pacific Coast herper par excellence. Together we had failed, and I was looking at another 2,500 mile drive back home with a big X rather than a photo next to the Great Basin spadefoot listing.

So when Gary said he knew an absolutely 100 percent assured locale in northern Washington, I said "What the heck. Let's go!" It was only another 1,200 miles and maybe, just maybe, the X of failure would be replaced by a photo of success. Five minutes later we were heading northward. Total insanity! But just maybe.

And you know, perseverance paid. At about 11 PM the next night we rolled into a region of rolling sands. And by midnight on a dry, breezy night on which I would not have really expected any anuran to be active, Gary had directed me to a shallow cemented irrigation/runoff canal and we were listening to the 2-pitched quacks of the coveted Great Basin spadefoot. Success!

It was wonderful. Now I only had a drive of about 3,200 miles diagonally across the USA to reach home. Altogether the search had carried me about 10,000 miles! But that hated X was gone. Thanks, Gary. (And yes, Patti is still shaking her head about this search, LOL!)

Still sandy having just emerged from its burrow: The finding of a Great Basin spadefoot took me 10,000 miles:

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.