Residents, including many from Woodstock, gathered on Zena Highwoods Road in Kingston, just outside the Woodstock town line, on Thursday, March 26, for one of the Hudson Valley’s spring amphibian crossing nights. Drawn out by warm rain and milder evening temperatures, frogs and salamanders were moving from forest habitat toward vernal pools, where they breed each year.
The effort included volunteers with Woodstock Land Conservancy and Stop Zena Development, who have been monitoring amphibian movement in the Zena area as part of a broader effort to document local migration patterns and better understand the risks amphibians face on nearby roads. The crossing was also part of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project, a long-running conservation program launched by the department’s Hudson River Estuary Program and Cornell University. Organizers said volunteers helped 388 amphibians across the road that night.
A red-backed salamander 
Volunteers gather during a late-night amphibian migration crossing on Zena Highwoods Road in Kingston, just outside Woodstock, on March 26. 
An American toad. 
A spotted salamander. 
The spring peeper frog. 
Artist Zoe Keller identifies amphibians during a late-night migration crossing on Zena Highwoods Road in Kingston, just outside Woodstock, on March 26.
Photos by Michael Sofronski for The Overlook.
