Biodiversity of the Zena Woods
In the final weeks of 2023, out-of-town developers purchased the 625 acre forest across from my childhood home in Woodstock, New York. Although their plans for the Zena Woods remain unclear, the developers’ initial proposal for a 175-acre golf course indicates a critical lack of stewardship. The Zena Woods are sacred to me. I spent my early years watching Great Blue Herons nest in those woods. I chased the toads and frogs that passed through our yard after hatching from the forests’ vernal pools, and watched hopefully for the bears that occasionally emerged from the trees. On the first day of spring in 2024, I began a ritual of daily walks along the forest perimeter, and through the neighboring Israel Wittman Sanctuary. I photographed birds, and recorded their calls. Over the next seven months, I observed over 125 species of birds within the Zena Woods. In order to celebrate the biodiversity of this now imperiled forest, I drew each of these bird species, and have assembled all 125 drawings into a print. It is my hope that this work communicates the irreplaceable nature of the Zena Woods. A portion of the proceeds from print sales will be donated to Stop Zena Development, a volunteer coalition working to protect the Zena Woods.
Explore Habitats & Species
The Forest Floor
Lean close! The forest floor is a fascinating world of tiny wonders.
1 Fiddleheads
2 Orchard Orbweaver
3 & 4 Decaying Mushroom being consumed by beetles
5 Woolly Bear Caterpillar (will metamorphose into an Isabella Tiger Moth)
6 Violet species
7 Bluet species
8 Juvenile conifer tree
9 Juvenile deciduous tree
10 Juvenile American Toad
11 Harvestman species
12 Eastern Hemlock Cone
13 Changeable Mantleslug
14 Red Eft (Juvenile Eastern Newt)
15 Common Pill Woodlouse
16 Eastern Whitelip Snail
17 Winter Firefly
18 Partridgeberry
19 Moss species
20 Eastern Black-legged Tick
21 Assorted lichens & fungi
1 Orchid species
2 Ghost Pipe
3 Garter Snake (male and female)
4 Thrush species
5 American Robin with a snack!
6 Ring-necked snake
7 Partridgeberry
8 Golden Spindles
9 Squirrel
10 Moss species
11 Man-made stone wall
Bluestone Quarry Rocks & Forest Wildflowers
1 Red Columbine
2 North American Porcupine
3 Fern species
4 Ebony Spleenwort
5 Eastern Chipmunk
6 Virginia Saxifrage
7 Maidenhair Spleenwort
8 American Giant Millipede
9 Yellow Trout Lily
10 Soloman’s Seal
11 Cinquefoil species
12 Round Lobed Hepatica
13 Northern Starflower
14 Yellow Star Grass
15 Rue Anemone
16 Oak Apple Gall
Vernal Pools
1 Marbled Salamander wrapped around eggs
2 Male Wood Frog calling above a cluster of recently laid eggs
3 Aquatic juvenile Jefferson Salamander
4 Cluster of Jefferson Salamander eggs
5 Spotted Salamander
6 Predaceous Diving Beetles species
7 Cluster of Spotted Salamander eggs
8 Swamp Beacon fungus
9 Jefferson Salamander
10 Sphagnum moss species
11 Aquatic juvenile salamander
12 Odonata species laying eggs
13 Spring Peeper calling
14 Male Mallard Duck
15 Pickerel Frog
16 Slime mold species on semi-submerged stump
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Life Underground
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1 Eastern Chipmunk carrying a mouthful of leaves into its burrow
2 Virginia Opossum (opossums can nest in abandoned groundhog burrows)
3 A Common Eastern Bumblebee emerges from the ground after her winter hibernation
4 An Eastern Gray Squirrel buries a White Oak Acorn
5 Common Earthworm
6 Northern Short-tailed Shrew
7 American Pelecinid Wasp laying its eggs on a beetle grub
8 Groundhog
9 Mycelium
Dead Trees & Mating Displays
1 Eastern Bluebirds nesting in abandoned Pileated Woodpecker nesting cavity
2 A Wood Duck chick jumps from its nest as a female Wood Duck looks on
3 A pair of Brown Creepers: one investigates a potential nesting location behind loose bark, the other carries food in its mouth
4 A standing dead or dying tree is called a “Snag”
5 A Pileated Woodpecker investigates a fallen tree for ants
6 Wolf’s Milk fungus
7 Pleasing Fungus Beetles on a Hemlock Varnish Fungus
8 Pinesap
9 Male Wild Turkey
10 Male Ruffed Grouse
11 Male American Woodcock
The Gift of Milkweed
1 Common Milkweed
2 Monarch Butterfly
3 Great Spangled Fritillary
4 Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar
5 Monarch Caterpillar
6 Lady Beetle species
7 Monarch Chrysalis
8 Ant species
9 Juvenile Gray Treefrog
The Magic of the Seasons
WINTER
1 Eastern Hemlock
2 Eastern White Pine
3 Red Fox
4 Fisher
5 White-breasted Nuthatch
6 Dark-eyed Junco
7 Northern Cardinal
8 Tufted Titmouse
9 Black-capped Chickadee
10 Downy Woodpecker
AUTUMN
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 American Black Bear
3 Golden-crowned Kinglet
4 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
5 Blue Jay
6 Autumn leaves
7 Hairy Woodpecker
8 Chicken-of-the-Woods
9 Male Deer sniffing for female
10 Northern Flicker
11 Striped Maple
SUMMER
1 Scarlet Tanager male and female
2 Brown Thrasher
3 Red-shouldered Hawk
4 Oak leaf being eaten by a caterpillar
SPRING
1, 2 and 3: spring leaflets
The Forest at Night
1 Giant Leopard Moth
2 Painted Lichen Moth
3 Mosquito species
4 Indiana Bat
5 Northern Long-eared Bat
6 Fireflies
7 Coyote
8 Striped Skunk
9 Common Raccoon
10 Common Nighthawk
11 Barred Owl
12 Shagbark Hickory
13 Great Horned Owl
14 Northern Dog-day Cicada
15 Northern Walkingstick
16 Gray Treefrog
17 Common True Catydid
Nocturnal Spring Migration
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
2 Blackburnian Warbler
3 Chestnut-sided Warbler
4 Yellow-throated Vireo
5 Eastern Kingbird
6 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
7 Black-throated Green Warbler
8 Eastern Wood-pewee
9 Black and White Warbler
10 American Redstart
11 Black-billed Cuckoo
12 Louisiana Waterthrush
Even More Forest Friends
1 Harlequin Darner
2 Broad-winged Hawk
3 Amber Jelly Fungus
4 Juvenile Eastern Ratsnake
5 Red Squirrel
6 Question Mark Butterfly
7 Northern Pearly Eye Butterfly
8 Common Wood Nymph
9 Fern species
10 White-tailed Deer with fawn
11 Man-made stone wall
12 White-throated Sparrow
Forest Streams
1 Bottlebrush Grass
2 Marsh Marigold
3 Violet species
4 Mayfly species
5 Long-jawed Orbweaver species
6 Cardinal Flower
7 Common Jewelweed
8 Ebony Jewelwings mating
9 Serrate Dark Fishfly
10 American Nursery Web Spider
11 & 12 Freshwater fish species
13 Caddisfly larvae
14 Snail species
15 Crayfish species
16 Eastern Newt
17 & 18 Freshwater fish species
19 Water Strider species
20 Green Frog
21 Sumo Mite species
22 Aquatic insect species
Sawkill River & Kingston Reservoir Number One
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1 Tree Swallow
2 Rough-winged Swallow
3 Barn Swallow
4 Gray Catbird
5 Yellow Warbler
6 Common Yellowthroat
7 Osprey carrying trout
8 Hooded Merganser pair
9 Muskrat
10 Common Grackle
11 American Beaver
12 Female Common Merganser with chicks
13 Song Sparrow
14 Green False Hellebore
15 Spotted Sandpiper
16 North American River Otter
17 Great Egret
18 Green-winged Teals
19 Bald Eagle and nest with chick
20 Left: Turkey Vulture, Right: Red-tailed Hawk
21 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher tending a nest in a Tulip Tree
22 Ruby-throated Hummingbird female
23 Belted Kingfisher male with fish prey
24 Ichneumonid Wasp species
25 Double-crested Cormorant
26 Canada Goose
27 Great Blue Heron
28 Red-winged Blackbird perched in a Cattail
29 Juvenile Green Heron
30 Bladder Sedge
31 Solitary Sandpiper
32 American Mink
33 Common Snapping Turtle
34 Buffleheads
35 Killdeer
36 Pond Spreadwing species on Sensitive Fern
37 Odonata species
38 Common Watersnake
39 Bur Reed Sedge
40 Northern Blue Flag being visited by a Silver Spotted Skipper
41 American Toads mating
42 Frog tadpoles
43 American Bullfrog tadpole
44 American Bullfrog male calling
45 Whirligig Beetle species
46 Duckweed species
47 Painted Turtle
48 A Common Whitetail Dragonfly rests in a cluster of plants including blooming yellow Nodding Beggarticks and white Broadleaf Arrowhead
49 Red-eyed Vireo eating an insect
50 Baltimore Oriole eating a caterpillar
51 Carolina Wren eating a spider
52 Maple leaves (above) and Sycamore leaves and seed balls (below)
Roads
1 Common Dandelion
2 Queen Anne’s Lace
3 Chicory
4 American Goldfinch
5 Colt’s-foot
6 Herb Robert
7 Wood Frog
8 Western Honeybee visiting White Clover
9 Spotted Salamander
10 Salamander species
11 A Green Frog killed by a car is consumed by an American Carrion Beetle (black body and yellow head), a Furry Snake Millipede and an isopod
12 Common Raven
13 Discarded cigarette butt