10 Types of Frogs in South Jersey: From Carpenter Frogs to Bullfrogs
October 27, 2026
Step onto a boardwalk trail in the Pinelands after a warm spring rain and the woods erupt with sound: honks, clicks, snores, and a chorus that builds until it’s nearly deafening. Identifying the types of frogs in South Jersey by ear is often easier than spotting them, since most species are small, secretive, and colored to disappear into leaf litter or sphagnum moss. The region’s mix of cedar swamps, cranberry bogs, and coastal plain wetlands supports a surprising range of amphibians packed into a relatively small area.
According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, New Jersey is home to 71 species of reptiles and amphibians. Of those, the state’s Division of Fish and Wildlife created a CD to help with identification of the 16 species of calling amphibians found in New Jersey, and a good share of them turn up regularly south of the Mount Holly-to-Freehold line. Below are ten frogs and toads you’re likely to encounter across South Jersey’s forests, farm ponds, and bogs, along with the calls and markings that separate each one.
Pro Tip: Most South Jersey frogs are far easier to identify by their breeding calls than by sight. Visit a wetland edge at dusk in April or May and listen before you look.
1. Carpenter Frog
The carpenter frog (Rana virgatipes) earns its name from a call that sounds like carpenters hitting nails with hammers—pu-tunk, pu-tunk, pu-tunk. It is identifiable because of its brown color and two yellow lines that run down its back, a pattern that helps it blend into the vegetation of the bogs it calls home.
This species is sometimes called the “sphagnum frog” because of its close association with sphagnum bogs, and it has a tolerance for acidic waters, and is often found in the emergent vegetation of standing waters. When startled, its head vanishes downward but may reappear seconds later, a few feet away. It breeds from April to August and ranges across nearly all of New Jersey’s Southern Region, with exceptions in northern Salem County and western Camden and Gloucester Counties. According to the Pinelands Alliance, carpenter frogs are a characteristic Pine Barrens species, and their presence indicates a healthy aquatic wildlife community. Anyone exploring similar wetland habitats farther south might also want to compare notes with the frogs found in South Carolina, since the Atlantic coastal plain connects many of the same bog-loving species.
2. Fowler’s Toad
Fowler’s toad (Anaxyrus fowleri) is the toad most South Jersey residents actually meet in their own backyards. These toads are abundant throughout southern New Jersey and rare to see in northern New Jersey due to the American toad’s presence, making location one of the simplest ways to sort the two look-alikes.
Its voice is unmistakable: Fowler’s toad has a long, loud, high-pitched W-A-A-A-H-H-H call, and it is said that a full chorus can be mistaken for a herd of sheep calling in the night. On the ground, Fowler’s toad makes a series of quick, short hops, while the American toad makes a few larger hops. Breeding runs from late spring through mid-August, and a single female can release 7,000 to 10,000 fertilized eggs, which hatch two to seven days later. For a broader look at how toad species divide up territory across the country, the frogs of Alabama include a Fowler’s toad population too, following much of the same coastal plain range.
3. Southern Leopard Frog
The southern leopard frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus) is one of the most widespread frogs in South Jersey’s ponds, ditches, and marshes. It is a medium-sized frog that may be green or brown but always has irregular, blackish spots and a pale lateral line running back from the eye, plus a white and usually conspicuous spot on the eardrum. For food, southern leopard frogs primarily eat invertebrates, such as insects and crayfish.
Important Note: Researchers with a Rutgers University-led team identified a separate species, the Atlantic Coast leopard frog, after noticing that it groans and makes coughing noises rather than croaking sounds. This frog has been found along the Delaware River and bay, the Atlantic Ocean coastline, in the Meadowlands, and on New York’s Staten Island, so a leopard frog with an odd, raspy call in a South Jersey marsh may not be the species it first appears to be.
4. Pickerel Frog
The pickerel frog (Lithobates palustris) is the spotted frog most often confused with the southern leopard frog, but the two are easy to separate once you know what to check. The pickerel frog looks very similar to the leopard frog; however, the pickerel frog has two parallel rows of squarish spots down its back, rather than the leopard frog’s irregular blotches.
Range-wise, these frogs are very common throughout New Jersey except for the core Pinelands, and they are often found near beaver ponds with dense vegetation. As a defense, the pickerel frog’s skin produces a toxic substance that makes it unappealing to most predators — a trait shared with only a handful of North American frogs discussed on the poisonous frogs resource. The clearest field mark, though, is color: the leopard frog is often confused for this species but can be distinguished by the orange coloring between the pickerel frog’s legs.
| Feature | Pickerel Frog | Southern Leopard Frog |
|---|---|---|
| Back spots | Two neat rows of square spots | Irregular, scattered blotches |
| Leg coloring | Bright orange or yellow underneath | Plain, no orange wash |
| Skin secretion | Mildly toxic to predators | No notable toxin |
| Pine Barrens core | Largely absent | Common |
5. Southern Gray Tree Frog (Cope’s Gray Treefrog)
South Jersey is one of the few places in the state where two nearly identical gray treefrogs overlap. The southern gray treefrog, or Cope’s gray treefrog (Dryophytes chrysoscelis), is found in Cape May and southern Cumberland, Ocean, and Atlantic Counties and carries a state Endangered listing on New Jersey’s official species list.
According to Cape May Wildlife, the two species of gray treefrog found in Cape May County were once considered a single species, so their distribution is still a little unclear, though recent work has shown the southern gray treefrog to be common in woodland from Rio Grande southwards. Visually, the two species can only safely be separated from each other by their calls. That call is the giveaway: Cope’s gray treefrog sounds like the gray treefrog but has a higher-pitched and faster mating call. Frog enthusiasts curious about tree-dwelling species elsewhere can compare notes with the treefrogs found in Illinois, where the northern gray treefrog dominates without a southern counterpart to confuse things.
6. American Toad
The American toad (Anaxyrus americanus) is the counterpart to Fowler’s toad, though the two rarely share the same neighborhood in South Jersey. American toads have a range in New Jersey, but they only inhabit the northern half of the state, which is exactly why Fowler’s toad dominates the southern counties.
Where American toads do turn up near the fringes of South Jersey, they favor forests, woodlands, fields, and even residential areas. They prefer sandy soil and plenty of ground litter, which lets them bury themselves and take shelter, and they live near a shallow body of water so they can breed. Anyone comparing toad ranges across the Midwest might notice similar patterns in the frogs and toads of Nebraska, where American toads also favor open, sandy ground over dense wetland cover.
7. Bullfrog
The American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) is impossible to miss once you know its size. The American bullfrog is the largest frog in the state, with adult body lengths ranging from 3.6 to 6 inches and, remarkably, the ability to grow to weigh as much as 1.5 pounds (0.7 kg).
Bullfrogs stick close to water. They are found near permanent bodies of water such as large ponds, streams, and lakes, and once mature, the males’ throats turn bright yellow. During breeding season, males select egg sites in shallow water, which they defend aggressively. The name comes from their voice: bullfrogs are named for their deep call, thought to sound like a bull bellowing. They are also notorious generalist predators, since bullfrogs are known to eat just about anything they can fit in their mouth and swallow. Because bullfrogs have been introduced well outside their native range, they’re also a major topic in guides covering the frogs of Arizona and the frogs of Oregon, where non-native bullfrog populations compete with smaller local species.
8. Green Frog
The green frog (Lithobates clamitans melanota) is a common sight along nearly any pond edge in South Jersey, but its coloring can be misleading. Despite its name, the green frog can actually be more brown than green in color, which leads to frequent confusion with young bullfrogs.
The fix is checking the sides of the frog’s back: green frogs have a dorsal ridge down their back that bullfrogs lack, and on the green frog, that ridge wraps around the tympanum rather than stopping short of it. Habitat overlaps heavily with the bullfrog, since green frogs can be commonly found near pretty much any water body such as ponds, lakes, or streams. Inside the Pinelands specifically, the green frog and the southern leopard frog are among the more visible, well-known frog species that hikers regularly spot along boardwalk trails.
Common Mistake: Don’t rely on color alone to tell green frogs from young bullfrogs. Look for the dorsal ridge running down the back — bullfrogs don’t have one, and green frogs do.
9. New Jersey Chorus Frog
The New Jersey chorus frog (Pseudacris kalmi) is a small, easily overlooked species named specifically for its home state. According to New Jersey’s own field guide materials, the New Jersey chorus frog measures roughly 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches, and Cape May County records list adults from 1.9 to 3.9 centimeters in length — one of the smaller frogs on this list.
Chorus frogs are part of the trio of small, ground-dwelling frogs that includes spring peepers and their upland chorus frog relatives, and the Wikipedia list of frogs and toads of New Jersey places the species firmly among the state’s core native amphibians. Distinguishing a New Jersey chorus frog from other small early-spring callers largely comes down to voice and habitat rather than color, since all three tend toward similar brown-and-gray mottling. If you’re comparing small chorus and cricket frogs across regions, the frogs of Iowa and their prairie chorus frog relatives make for an interesting side-by-side.
10. Eastern Spadefoot
The eastern spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii holbrookii) is arguably the most secretive amphibian on this list, and many South Jersey residents never encounter one despite living near a population. The eastern spadefoot toad is the only spadefoot toad in the state, and it sticks to the essentially brown body marked with two yellow lines running from each eye down the back, though some individuals are highly melanistic, with lines that are very faint.
Two features confirm identification: large yellow eyes with elliptical pupils protrude from their heads, and each hind foot has a sharp, black spade used for digging. Unlike true toads, the eastern spadefoot has smoother, more moist skin than most toads and is speckled with very tiny warts. Behaviorally, it’s rarely seen in the open and lives in burrows usually two feet below the surface, staying almost entirely terrestrial as an adult and only returning to water to breed.
For food, eastern spadefoots survive on a variety of insects and small invertebrates, while birds, fish, and snakes serve as common predators. Unlike the pickerel frog, this species does not secrete any toxins and relies on its secretive nature to defend itself instead.
- Two toads and twelve frogs make up the Pine Barrens amphibian community, according to the Pinelands Alliance, which notes that two toads and twelve frogs are known to inhabit the Pine Barrens.
- Spring rain events trigger the heaviest breeding activity for pond-and-vernal-pool species like the carpenter frog and eastern spadefoot.
- Listening at dusk from March through July covers the breeding calls of nearly every species on this list.
South Jersey packs an outsized amount of amphibian diversity into its cedar swamps, cranberry bogs, and coastal ponds, and the ten species above only scratch the surface of what a patient night walk near a wetland can turn up. For a wider view of how these species fit into the region’s ecosystem, the spiders of New Jersey and beetles of New Jersey share many of the same wetland and forest habitats, while readers wanting the bigger amphibian picture can browse frog species around the world or check how many frog species exist globally for context on where New Jersey’s native frogs fit in.