Many are within larger wetlands, such as oxbows in river floodplains and pools in forested swamps or scrub-shrub wetlands. Their common characteristics are the absence of fish, temporary flooding regime, and the presence of vernal pool species. Suitable pools must have enough leaf litter and other debris to provide food sources and cover for the species that breed in them. The short flooding duration of vernal pools favors species that can carry out their breeding cycle very quickly. In New England, these species include wood frogs, spring peepers, and spotted, blue-spotted, Jefferson's, and marbled salamanders.
Wood frogs are terrestrial except during the breeding season.
They live in woodlands, where they forage for food among leaves and debris on the forest floor. In winter, they hibernate under rocks, moss, leaf litter, or in rotting logs and stumps. One easy way to locate vernal pools is to listen for wood frog choruses, which are groups of males singing to attract females. Wood frogs make a sharp clucking sound, and large groups can sound like ducks quacking or outboard motors idling. Breeding is completed within a couple of weeks, after which adults return to the woods, leaving clear, jelly-like egg masses behind.