Discourse.net

Apparently not, the hypothesis that crows might be behind this has yet to be observed:

"We haven't seen that. It might be, it might not be," said institute spokeswoman Janne Kloepper. "It's speculation," until it's observed, she said.

Whereas the story strongly implies that toads have been witnessed in the just before, during, and after of the gruesome phenomenon:

Local environmental workers in Hamburg have described it as a scene out of a horror or science fiction movie, with the bloated frogs agonizing and twitching for several minutes, inflating like a balloon before suddenly bursting.

"It's horrible," biologist Heidi Mayerhoefer was quoted as telling the Hamburger Morgenpost daily.

"The toads burst, the entrails slide out. But the animal isn't immediately dead they keep struggling for several minutes."

I think if crows were behind it they would have been seen by these witnesses.

It's a genuine piece of Forteana.

And Dave Barry is on hiatus!