Toads croak. Ask anyone. They croak in movies. They croak in cartoons. They croak in songs and stories. A classroom of fifth-graders making toad noises can all make amazing croaks in the back of their throat that I could never hope to imitate.

The only one who doesn’t actually know that toads croak are the toads themselves. Only the male toads make noise, and the noise they make is a long, musical trill that echoes through local neighborhoods every May.

The males sing to attract the females, who are attracted to the loud, trilling male and sometimes many toads singing together. One American toad can lay over 15,000 eggs in long strings through the water. They don’t last long before they hatch.

Toad tadpoles are black as night and can show up in any bit of water. They can be found in puddles, garden pools, ditches and shallow areas around the lake. Even a small puddle may have thousands of tadpoles eating the algae and dead plant material in the water.

It only takes a couple of weeks before the tadpoles grow legs and hop out into the world to survive on their own. They emerge as tiny hoppers that can fit easily on your thumbnail. Near the end of the month, thousands can be found hopping through forests and over lawns as they disperse, looking for a place to grow up.

I encourage toads to hang out in my yard. Stacks of rocks and bricks lurk in the corners of gardens. There are places with upside down terra cotta flower pots leaning on stones. The toads have moved in, grateful for the great little homes they can live in during the hot parts of the day.

At night, they emerge and eat the bugs that eat my garden plants, happily devouring slugs, snails, beetles and other undesirables that ruin the mini crop that comes out of the yard each year. During the day, they hide in the caves we built for them.

I am grateful for the people on the block with small waterfalls and pools of water in their yards and their patience with the breeding toads and tadpoles that emerge there each spring. As natural puddles have been drained and filled, these artificial places provide the ideal habitat for breeding toads and a great opportunity for kids and grandkids to learn more about the animals around them.

Open your window as you go to sleep tonight and listen. Perhaps the toads will sing you a loud, trilling lullaby to help you go to sleep.

Jeff Tome is a senior naturalist for programs and exhibits at the Jamestown Audubon Society and a longtime CWC volunteer and former board director. The Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy is a local nonprofit organization that is dedicated to preserving and enhancing the water quality, scenic beauty and ecological health of the lakes, streams, wetlands and watersheds of the Chautauqua region. For more information, call 664-2166 or visit www.chautauquawatershed.org or www.facebook.com/chautauquawatershed.