The weather was tricky this year — rain kept petering out at nightfall, then starting up again in the wee hours of the morning.  As a result, many of our sites never experienced a traditional Big Night, but we’re heartened by the fact that many amphibians likely migrated late at night, when the threat of road mortality is significantly reduced.  Even with the wonky weather, in 2009 120 Salamander Crossing Guards crossed over 4,300 amphibians at ten sites throughout southwest new Hampshire: in total, over 1,600 wood frogs, 1,450 spring peepers, and nearly 1,050 spotted salamanders, as well as handfuls of two-lined salamanders, four-toed salamanders, dusky salamanders, red-backed salamanders, red-spotted newts, green frogs, pickerel frogs, bullfrogs, American toads, rare Jefferson salamanders and even a couple of baby painted turtles, were spared the crush of the tire by our dedicated crew of Salamander Crossing Guards.  We also documented our first blue-spotted salamander!  All in all, it was great fun.  Click here to download an Excel spreadsheet with the breakdown of amphibian counts by site and night, and check out photographs from the last two years of Big Nights, below!