Chiropteran Adventures
I was able to go out on two bat surveys tonight - we met up with two biologists and three field techs from Klamath (one a girl I had a class with last term!). On Tuesday we got 26 bats, the last one a pallid, which thoroughly chomped on me...even when I was trying to release her - I wasn't hanging on to her anymore, but she was quite attached to my finger. BUT, it was a good night, and I was so thankful to be out of the office again.
Last night we saw a doe and twin fawns both on the way up and on the way back, which was cool. We split into two teams of four so we could cover two ponds. As soon as our nets were up, we got slammed. We got most of our 24 bats in the first 20 minutes, and I processed all of them, slowly but surely. We ended up catching fledgling and adult screech owls too - adorable! Luckily they were easily released. Towards the end Glenn brought up a silver haired bat, and there was a little brown bat in the bag too! As it turns out, in the fury of the first 20 minutes, he had stuck this little brown in the bag and put it in his wader's pocket, forgeting it was there. Luckily it was unharmed and active, so I let it go after determining species. It was a warm night so releasing them was swift, which is always nice.
Tomorrow Heather and I will be out by Lake Abert scouting for new study sites. It should be fun.
I was able to go out on two bat surveys tonight - we met up with two biologists and three field techs from Klamath (one a girl I had a class with last term!). On Tuesday we got 26 bats, the last one a pallid, which thoroughly chomped on me...even when I was trying to release her - I wasn't hanging on to her anymore, but she was quite attached to my finger. BUT, it was a good night, and I was so thankful to be out of the office again.
Last night we saw a doe and twin fawns both on the way up and on the way back, which was cool. We split into two teams of four so we could cover two ponds. As soon as our nets were up, we got slammed. We got most of our 24 bats in the first 20 minutes, and I processed all of them, slowly but surely. We ended up catching fledgling and adult screech owls too - adorable! Luckily they were easily released. Towards the end Glenn brought up a silver haired bat, and there was a little brown bat in the bag too! As it turns out, in the fury of the first 20 minutes, he had stuck this little brown in the bag and put it in his wader's pocket, forgeting it was there. Luckily it was unharmed and active, so I let it go after determining species. It was a warm night so releasing them was swift, which is always nice.
Tomorrow Heather and I will be out by Lake Abert scouting for new study sites. It should be fun.
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