late winter to the end of March. Males will be heard during this period. Females lay numerous small, irregular clusters that will contain from 10 up to 42 eggs. They may lay more than 500 eggs in one season. Eggs hatching happens rapidly within two weeks. Spawning stage A male toad finds the female and jumps on her back, a process called amplexus. As the female lays eggs in a long chain (cordon), the male fertilizes them. The group of eggs is called spawn. [The yolk within the egg splits into two sections. This splits again to create four sections and continues splitting. After this the embryo begins to develop, it starts looking like a tadpole. You can see it swim in the egg, feeding on the yolk to survive. Tadpole Stage. Eggs will hatch in 6–21 days. The tadpole does not swim for the first 7 to 10 days, but floats around in the plants. It breathes through external gills. Four weeks into the process, the skin grows over the gills and they become internal gills. Six to nine weeks after hatching, the tadpole grows legs, but keeps its tail. The tadpole enters youth and adulthood between weeks 9–12, the tail shortens. Front legs begin to grow and the lungs develop. At week 12 the toad looks like other toads, only much smaller. It does not leave the water until somewhere between 12 and 16 weeks after hatching. It will return again later to mate and fertilize more eggs. Until then, it lives away from water, eating insects and other bugs. References This article is based on a description from "A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Coastal Southern California", Robert N. Fisher and Ted J. Case, USGS, https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/81502 hammondii Amphibians of Mexico Amphibians of the United States Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of Baja California Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Endangered fauna of California Amphibians described in 1859 Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird