New Jersey packs a surprising amount of amphibian diversity into one of the smallest states in the country. According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the state is home to 16 species of calling amphibians, and among the various types of frogs in New Jersey are 13 true frogs and toads that residents regularly hear singing from ponds, swamps, and backyard puddles each spring.
From the explosive burrowers of the Pine Barrens to the tree-climbing peepers of northern forests, each species fills a distinct ecological niche. This guide walks through all 13, covering what they look like, where they live, and how to tell them apart by call. For a broader look at amphibian diversity outside the Garden State, the different types of frogs found worldwide offers useful context, and anyone curious about total species counts can check how many types of frogs there are globally.
Pro Tip: Most New Jersey frogs are far easier to identify by their call than by sight, especially treefrogs and chorus frogs that spend most of their lives hidden in vegetation. Learning even three or four distinct calls will let you identify most species you encounter near water at night.
1. New Jersey Chorus Frog
The New Jersey chorus frog (Pseudacris triseriata kalmi) is a small, secretive frog that many people never see despite hearing it constantly during early spring. According to the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife, adults measure roughly 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches long. The New Jersey Chorus Frog has 3 lines down its back, which helps separate it from the similarly sized Northern Cricket Frog.
The New Jersey Chorus Frog and the Northern Cricket Frog are very similar in size and habitat preference, so listening to the call is often the fastest way to tell them apart. This subspecies breeds primarily between February and April in shallow, temporary wetlands and grassy ditches. Related chorus frog populations also occur farther south, including the chorus frogs found in Maryland along the Delmarva Peninsula.
2. Northern Cricket Frog
The Northern cricket frog (Acris crepitans crepitans) is New Jersey’s smallest true frog and the only cricket frog species found anywhere in the state. Its range covers the entire state, and the Northern Cricket Frog is the only Cricket Frog in the state, so there’s no risk of confusing it with a close relative the way birdwatchers might with treefrogs.
This species gets its name from its clicking, metallic call, which sounds remarkably like two pebbles being tapped together in rapid succession. Cricket frogs prefer open, sunny shorelines of ponds and slow streams rather than dense woodland pools. Populations of this same species range widely across the eastern United States, including the cricket frogs documented across Kentucky.
3. Northern Gray Treefrog
The Northern gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor) is one of the most commonly encountered amphibians in New Jersey, largely because it thrives close to people. Gray Treefrogs are ubiquitous throughout New Jersey, and you’ll spot them in a wide variety of wooded habitats, from backyards to forests to swamps. They spend most of the year in the treetops and only come down when it’s time to breed.
True to its scientific name, this species can slowly shift its skin tone between gray, green, and brown to blend with whatever surface it’s resting on. Gray Treefrogs prefer to mate and lay eggs in woodland ponds without fish, since fish readily eat their eggs and tadpoles. Gray treefrogs are found well beyond New Jersey too, including the population of gray treefrogs living across Iowa.
4. Northern Spring Peeper
Few sounds announce the arrival of spring in New Jersey quite like the high, sharp calls of the Northern spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer). Adults are small and range from 1 to 1.5 inches long, typically tan or brown, with the females being lighter in color, and both males and females usually feature a dark cross or ‘X’ on their back, which is exactly how the species earned its scientific name.
Despite belonging to the treefrog family, spring peepers are typically found on the forest floor among the leaves, though they do have large toe pads that they use for climbing trees. They breed explosively in temporary ponds each spring, sometimes forming choruses so loud they can be heard from a considerable distance. Spring peepers are just as common one state over, as detailed in the guide to spring peepers found throughout Connecticut.
5. Pickerel Frog
The pickerel frog (Rana palustris) looks a lot like New Jersey’s leopard frogs at first glance, but it carries a distinction none of the state’s other amphibians share. According to Animal Spot, pickerel frogs are the only poisonous frogs in New Jersey, secreting skin toxins that can irritate predators and even harm other amphibians kept in the same container.
Visually, pickerel frogs have squarish brown spots arranged in two neat rows down their back, rather than the more randomly scattered spots of a leopard frog. They favor cool, clear streams, spring-fed ponds, and rocky ravines more than the open marshes leopard frogs prefer. Readers interested in toxic amphibians more broadly can browse the wider list of poisonous frog species found around the world.
Important Note: Skin secretions from pickerel frogs are toxic enough to kill other frogs housed with them in captivity, so anyone handling wild amphibians should wash their hands thoroughly afterward and avoid touching the eyes.
6. Pine Barrens Treefrog
The Pine Barrens treefrog (Hyla andersonii) is one of New Jersey’s most visually striking amphibians and one of its most restricted in range. This vibrant frog is easy to identify with its lavender stripes outlined in white against the bright green ground color of its body, and the concealed surfaces of its legs are bright orange.
The species depends entirely on acidic wetlands. The Pine Barrens Treefrog requires the acidic waters of Atlantic white-cedar swamps and bogs in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, and its range within the state is limited to a handful of southern counties. Pine Barrens Treefrogs are now listed as a state threatened species, a status driven largely by the draining of the small, acidic pools they need to breed. For a look at treefrog communities in another part of the country, see the guide to frogs found across North Carolina.
7. Southern Gray Treefrog
The Southern gray treefrog, also called Cope’s gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis), is essentially identical in appearance to the Northern gray treefrog and can only be reliably distinguished by its call or chromosome count. New Jersey lists this species with an endangered designation, reflecting how much rarer it is in the state compared to its common cousin. Sixteen New Jersey amphibians breed in vernal pools but are more flexible and can sometimes reproduce in pools with fish, including Southern gray treefrogs, Pine Barrens treefrogs, and Fowler’s toads.
Its call is faster and more rattling than the Northern gray treefrog’s slower, more musical trill, which is often the only practical way field observers can separate the two in the field. Gray treefrog populations of this type also occur in states like Illinois, detailed in the guide to gray treefrogs found throughout Illinois.
8. Southern Leopard Frog
The Southern leopard frog (Rana utricularia, also classified as Rana sphenocephala) was, for decades, the only leopard frog officially recognized in New Jersey. That changed after researchers described the Atlantic Coast leopard frog as a distinct species. As the NJDEP Endangered & Nongame Species Program explains, only two leopard frog species were traditionally recognized from eastern North America, but in 2014 a third eastern species was described: the Atlantic Coast leopard frog.
Southern leopard frogs favor open, wet habitats. Leopard frogs are widely distributed throughout New Jersey, preferring shallow swamps, open wet meadows, river floodplains, and roadside ditch systems, and are especially common throughout the Pinelands, Meadowlands, and Delaware River Basin. That Delaware River Basin connection means several of the same wetland-loving frogs common in New Jersey are also counted among native frogs in Delaware just across the water. Similar leopard frog populations extend south too, as covered in the guide to leopard frogs found across Alabama.
9. Upland Chorus Frog
The Upland chorus frog (Pseudacris triseriata feriarum) closely resembles its New Jersey chorus frog relative and occupies similar open, grassy wetland habitat. the Upland Chorus Frog is officially recognized as a distinct subspecies within the state, occurring primarily in the southern and western portions of New Jersey where the two chorus frog ranges begin to separate.
Its call is a rough, repetitive “crreek” that rises in pitch, often compared to running a finger along the teeth of a plastic comb. Breeding activity peaks in late winter and early spring, tracking closely with the New Jersey chorus frog’s own schedule. Chorus frog populations of this general type reach well into the Deep South, including the frogs profiled in the guide to chorus frogs found throughout Mississippi.
10. Wood Frog
The wood frog (Rana sylvatica) is best known for a survival trick that sounds almost impossible for a vertebrate animal. The Wood Frog is a small to medium sized frog that varies in color from brown, silver, or red and has dark ‘raccoon’ eyes, and when winter comes, it can freeze completely solid and then unthaw in spring.
Wood frogs are one of New Jersey’s classic vernal pool specialists. Seven New Jersey amphibians are ‘obligate’ species entirely reliant on vernal pools, and they include wood frogs and Eastern spadefoot toads. That dependence makes wood frogs an early indicator of vernal pool health, since they’re often the first frogs calling each year, sometimes while ice still lines the edges of their breeding ponds. Wood frog populations extend well into the upper Midwest, as shown in the guide to wood frogs found across Nebraska.
Key Insight: Vernal pools, the shallow, temporary wetlands that dry up by mid or late summer, are critical breeding habitat for several New Jersey frogs precisely because they lack fish. No fish means no predators eating eggs and tadpoles, which is why wood frogs and spadefoots evolved to depend on them entirely.
11. Green Frog
The Green frog (Rana clamitans melanota) is one of the most frequently spotted frogs in New Jersey simply because it tolerates almost any permanent body of water. The Green Frog is a medium to large sized frog that can be commonly found near pretty much any water body such as ponds, lakes, or streams, including suburban backyard ponds and drainage basins.
Green frogs are frequently confused with young bullfrogs, but there’s a reliable way to tell them apart. Green Frogs are very similar to Bullfrogs, but Bullfrogs don’t have a dorsal ridge down their back, and instead their fold wraps around the tympanum. Anyone exploring New Jersey’s backyards for wildlife beyond amphibians might also enjoy the guide to wasps found throughout New Jersey, since both groups share the same pond-edge habitat.
Common Mistake: Confusing a Green Frog for a small American Bullfrog is one of the most frequent identification errors in New Jersey. Check for the dorsolateral ridge running from the eye down the back; if it’s present, it’s a Green Frog, and if it stops abruptly at the eardrum, it’s a Bullfrog.
12. Fowler’s Toad
Fowler’s toad (Bufo woodhousii fowleri, now often classified as Anaxyrus fowleri) is New Jersey’s sandy-soil specialist among the true toads. The Fowler’s Toad occurs mainly in sandy habitats throughout the state and breeds in vernal ponds, ditches, and the shallow edges of lakes and ponds.
Its voice is distinctive even to people who have never heard a toad before. Voice: A nasal w-a-a-a-h, similar to the sound of a baby crying, that lasts for one to four seconds. Fowler’s toads are active from April through late September and feed heavily on insects, including many of the same caterpillars covered in the guide to caterpillars found throughout New Jersey. Interestingly, Fowler’s Toad is known to hybridize with other species of toads, which can occasionally produce individuals with intermediate features.
13. Eastern Spadefoot
The Eastern spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii) is one of New Jersey’s strangest and most elusive amphibians, spending the vast majority of its life underground. According to the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, the sharp-edged spade on each hind foot enables this toad to burrow vertically downward into sandy or loose soil, and it burrows underground during the daytime and when conditions are cold or dry.
Within the state, this species is only found within the southern half of New Jersey, although there is a historical record from Warren County, and they prefer forests or fields with sandy or loose soil and require temporary pools of water for breeding. Breeding is explosive and unpredictable, triggered by heavy warm-season rain rather than a fixed calendar date. In 2016, the New Jersey Endangered and Nongame Advisory Committee recommended a Special Concern status for this species, largely due to population declines and habitat loss. Similar burrowing spadefoot species live far to the west as well, including the ones featured in the guide to spadefoot toads found across Utah.
Vernal pool loss remains the species’ biggest long-term threat, a pattern documented by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. Because so many of the frogs on this list, from wood frogs to spadefoots to Pine Barrens treefrogs, depend on these fragile temporary wetlands, protecting vernal pools is one of the most effective ways to safeguard the state’s amphibian diversity going forward. A complete species reference is also available through the list of frogs and toads of New Jersey on Wikipedia.
| Species | Typical Size | Best ID Feature |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey Chorus Frog | 3/4″ – 1 1/2″ | Three dark lines down the back |
| Northern Cricket Frog | Under 1″ | Clicking, pebble-tap call |
| Northern Spring Peeper | 1″ – 1.5″ | Dark “X” mark on the back |
| Pickerel Frog | 1.75″ – 3.5″ | Square spots in two rows, toxic skin |
| Green Frog | 2″ – 4″ | Dorsal ridge stopping at the eardrum |
New Jersey’s amphibian community reflects the state’s surprising habitat range, from sandy Pine Barrens bogs to rocky northern streams to suburban drainage ponds. Because several of these same families, chorus frogs, treefrogs, and true toads, also live across the Delaware River, learning to identify New Jersey’s frogs makes it easier to recognize native frogs in Delaware and elsewhere across the mid-Atlantic. Anyone who enjoys this kind of backyard wildlife tracking might also appreciate the guides to spiders found throughout New Jersey and beetles native to New Jersey, both of which share the same ponds, forests, and wetlands covered here.