What is a Big Night? 

A “big night” is a remarkable and critical event in the life cycle of amphibians. It refers to the evening when certain amphibian species, driven by environmental cues like temperature and rainfall, embark on a mass migration from their winter habitats to breeding grounds. This spectacle often involves large numbers of amphibians, making it a captivating and significant occurrence in nature. 

While the term “big night” implies only one night when this event may occur, it frequently occurs multiple times per year. In Maine, big nights tend to occur in early to mid April for most of the state. In 2023, the true Big Night occurred on April 17th. The triggers are mostly thawed ground, nighttime temperatures above forty degrees (the warmer, the better!), and enough precipitation to make the ground wet. 

Maine Big Night (MBN) is a nonprofit community science project established to confront the issue of amphibians becoming roadkill en masse. Amphibians, already facing stronger threats than many other groups of wildlife, can see localized declines due to roadkill, and are especially vulnerable during their punctual annual migrations. MBN organizes volunteers to assist these animals across the road while collecting valuable data to protect them for decades to come. In 2023, 20,000 amphibians such as American bullfrogs, toads, a variety of salamanders, frogs, eastern newts and more were recorded by 385 Maine volunteers. While most previous big nights have had about 1 amphibian show up every 2-3 minutes, last year MBN reported seeing about EIGHT amphibians every MINUTE! The Problem oftentimes, amphibians have to cross roads in order to reach their breeding habitat. Being so small and traveling at night in low visibility, amphibians are extraordinarily hard to see; mortality rates on roads can approach 100% in areas with high traffic. Because of this, amphibians may be decreasing significantly in some areas. Amphibians are one of the most endangered groups of animals on the planet, with some common species even becoming rarer. This project seeks to evaluate the impact roads are having on populations while providing recommendations to transportation and wildlife officials about more wildlife-friendly road design. 

Want to get involved? 

• Sign up as a MBN Scientist and become a certified volunteer here! 
• Adopt a site! Piscataquis County has 5 Maine Big Night Sites available for adoption! 
  • Gales Rd in Abbot and Burough Rd in Dover- Foxcroft are up for adoption.To adopt a site register here! If you have other Piscataquis County site suggestions, reach out to the Maine Big Night contact page. 

• Get the gear! PCSWCD is excited to share that we are now a Maine Big Night Kit Host Site for MBN! PCSWCD has 3 full kits for rent and extra vests and data sheets available. To reserve a kit or for more information about kits email info@piscataquisswcd.org or call (207) 564-2321 ext. 3 
  • Want to get your own supplies?  Here is the Maine Big Night Materials Checklist! 

Adult vests,Child vests, Headlamps, Clipboards, ID cards, Datasheets