12 October 2007
Well, today I did not get underground. Pete and Ara conducted a web search on Histoplasmosis and realized our respirators did not contain the proper filtration. So, unless we find the right equipment, we cannot return to Guano Grotto to pull traps.
I spent the day looking for either respirators or cartridges with a 0.2 micron filter (meaning it filters 99.98% of the particulates in the air). Our cartridges were 0.3 microns. I called numerous safety businesses in Albuquerque. Fortunately, I was able to find a place that carried the respirators with the correct cartridges. Safety Flare, Inc. in Albuquerque, NM. is where I found the equipment. They are an incredibly helpful bunch of folks who were willing to stay open after 1700hr so that I could pick up the respirators. Thank you very much, Rhonda, Abbey and the rest of the helpful staff there!
Albuquerque is a town of about 500 thousand people, it is more than doubled during the annual hot balloon fiesta. I haven’t seen this many crazy drivers on the road since I was driving in Veracruz, Mexico. When I drove through last, it consisted of an unmarked four lane highway. I was almost sideswiped by crazy drivers twice! Needless to say, I was rather glad to get out of town.
Pete and Ara went to pull traps at Spotted Pavement Cave. Much to my surprise this cave contained numerous invertebrates. They collected Rhadine beetles, springtails, and crickets.
16 October 2007
15 October 2007
More Batty than Usual
11 October 2007 El Malpais NM, New Mexico -- Tres mas cuevas
This is a maternity/nursery roost of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). You can actually see the "free-tails" on several of the flying individuals in this image! I estimated this roost around 3000 individuals. I was surprised to see so many bats so late in the season. I had specifically chosen to conduct biological inventories in early to late fall to avoid disturbing bat maternity and nursery colonies. Fortunately, all the pups associated with this colony are now vagile (they can fly), so our presence does not place the pups at risk of being knocked off the ceiling.
We have three caves on today’s agenda. We will conduct time constrained searches and pull traps at Dipulran Den and Dead Snake Caves. Once this was completed, we were going to Guano Grotto Cave to deploy traps.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, Dipulran Den and Dead Snake Caves are heavily used by tourists. They are also characterized as ice caves. Thus, I did not anticipate finding much in these caves. In Dipluran Den we collected only one cricket. Fortunately for us, it was a male and we could use this specimen for identification. However, we did encounter one big brown bat and at least five hibernating Townsend's big eared bats roosting within the cave.
Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus) in a torpor within the twilight zone of Dipluran Den Cave.
This Townsend's Big Eared Bat (Corynorhinus townsendii) is most likely setting into hibernation for the winter. During the cave detection research, I've counted upwards of ~100 hibernating Townsend's bats within the dark zone of Dipluran Den Cave.
We did not encounter one arthropod in Dead Snake Cave.
Once we were done with these two caves, it was time to enter the Guano Grotto. This cave was another world. This cave is aptly named. The guano is so extensive that we had to wear respirators while working in this cave. Respirators are required to protect us from histoplasmosis . This is caused by a fungus that can enter the lungs and grows on the alveoli as polyps. In most cases, this condition is not fatal, but if you get it, you may wish it was.
Over 90 % of this cave was covered in a thick carpet of bat guano. As we walked through this cave, the floor felt as if we were walking on a padded floor. The walls were covered in guano and in some places there were actually stalactites of guano. Pete believes there is mycelium (a type of fungus) binding the guano and decomposing material together. This is probably how the guano was forming stalactites on the walls.
As we were pulling tape to mark our stations and getting deeper into the cave, I heard bats. Once I rounded a bend in the passage, I realized there were a significant number of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) still in residence. I estimate the colony at approximately 3000 bats.
Image: Ara and Pete pulling tape to establish our sampling stations. Pete is featured in the image.
The nutrient loading due to the presence of these bats and the deposition of guano has resulted in one of, if not the, most biodiverse cave on the monument. We collected numerous spiders species, Rhadine beetles, Eleodes beetles, crickets and fungus gnats. I expect we will find numerous additional species through the trapping effort. We will learn of our success when we pull the traps on Sunday.
This is a maternity/nursery roost of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). You can actually see the "free-tails" on several of the flying individuals in this image! I estimated this roost around 3000 individuals. I was surprised to see so many bats so late in the season. I had specifically chosen to conduct biological inventories in early to late fall to avoid disturbing bat maternity and nursery colonies. Fortunately, all the pups associated with this colony are now vagile (they can fly), so our presence does not place the pups at risk of being knocked off the ceiling.We have three caves on today’s agenda. We will conduct time constrained searches and pull traps at Dipulran Den and Dead Snake Caves. Once this was completed, we were going to Guano Grotto Cave to deploy traps.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, Dipulran Den and Dead Snake Caves are heavily used by tourists. They are also characterized as ice caves. Thus, I did not anticipate finding much in these caves. In Dipluran Den we collected only one cricket. Fortunately for us, it was a male and we could use this specimen for identification. However, we did encounter one big brown bat and at least five hibernating Townsend's big eared bats roosting within the cave.
Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus) in a torpor within the twilight zone of Dipluran Den Cave.
This Townsend's Big Eared Bat (Corynorhinus townsendii) is most likely setting into hibernation for the winter. During the cave detection research, I've counted upwards of ~100 hibernating Townsend's bats within the dark zone of Dipluran Den Cave.We did not encounter one arthropod in Dead Snake Cave.
Once we were done with these two caves, it was time to enter the Guano Grotto. This cave was another world. This cave is aptly named. The guano is so extensive that we had to wear respirators while working in this cave. Respirators are required to protect us from histoplasmosis . This is caused by a fungus that can enter the lungs and grows on the alveoli as polyps. In most cases, this condition is not fatal, but if you get it, you may wish it was.
Over 90 % of this cave was covered in a thick carpet of bat guano. As we walked through this cave, the floor felt as if we were walking on a padded floor. The walls were covered in guano and in some places there were actually stalactites of guano. Pete believes there is mycelium (a type of fungus) binding the guano and decomposing material together. This is probably how the guano was forming stalactites on the walls.
As we were pulling tape to mark our stations and getting deeper into the cave, I heard bats. Once I rounded a bend in the passage, I realized there were a significant number of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) still in residence. I estimate the colony at approximately 3000 bats.
Image: Ara and Pete pulling tape to establish our sampling stations. Pete is featured in the image. The nutrient loading due to the presence of these bats and the deposition of guano has resulted in one of, if not the, most biodiverse cave on the monument. We collected numerous spiders species, Rhadine beetles, Eleodes beetles, crickets and fungus gnats. I expect we will find numerous additional species through the trapping effort. We will learn of our success when we pull the traps on Sunday.
A Bird Bath of Molten Lava
10 October 2007 El Malpais NM, New Mexico -- Three caves in a day.
Image: Ara standing above one of the entrances to Bird Bath Cave.
Today, we are going to visit three caves: Cedar Still, Bird Bath, and Roots Cave. Our plan is to pull traps from Cedar Still Cave, and deploy traps at Bird Bath and Roots Caves.
When we pulled traps from Cedar Still, we were not at all surprised to find there were absolutely no invertebrates. We suspect the cave is simply too cold and perhaps too extensively disturbed to support life.
This cave has been extensively used by humans. From what I can discern from this cave, it appears front portion was used prehistorically, while the back part of the cave was used historically to contemporaneously.
Root mats from Bird Bath Cave. Also, in the bottom right of this image are gold colored microbes. Dr. Diana Northup and Jessica Snider at University of New Mexico-Albuquerque are currently studying these cave microbes.
Once we pulled traps, our next stop was Bird Bath Cave. The synonym for this cave was drawn from a large lava formation within the cave dark zone that actually looks like a bird bath. This cave contained roots and was also characterized by heavy invertebrate activity. Once we had deployed traps within this cave, we conducted an opportunistic search for invertebrates. We spend most of our time searching in the root mats overhead. We collected numerous spiders, springtails and attempted to collect a ovate white bug about 5 mm in length. As I tried to catch it, it jumped from the root mats and escaped.
At the back of Bird Bath, we found a fully articulated small carnivore skeleton. This is most likely a ring-tailed cat. I'm going to compare cranial specimens to make this determination. Once I do, I'll update this blog accordingly.
Our opportunistic searches continued once we arrived at Roots Cave. Unfortunately, we arrived at this cave too late to deploy traps, so we chose to opportunistic collect instead. Roots cave is aptly named -- I’ve never seen so many roots in one cave. The nutrient loading associated with these roots is what is fueling the entire ecosystem within this cave. The organisms occurring with this cave is tied to the presence of these roots – without the roots, there would be few invertebrates within this cave.
This cave contained far more invertebrates than Bird Bath. However, I expect a large extent of activity to be constrained to the ceiling. Thus, it seems the opportunistic collect will serve to compliment our systematic trapping. Also, when we do this, I plan to collect a portion of the roots and use a Berlese funnel to extract these organisms.
Image: A small natural arch over the trench that contains Bird Bath Cave. Notice the small sandstone marker in the bottom left of the image. Sandstone markers are common out here and are often associated with prehistoric human use. There is a trail across the Ah-ah lava flow on the Bandera property that is lined with these sandstone markers. Jeff suggests this is an ancient Anasazi trail. The question is...did the Anasazi leave this marker?
Image: Ara standing above one of the entrances to Bird Bath Cave.Today, we are going to visit three caves: Cedar Still, Bird Bath, and Roots Cave. Our plan is to pull traps from Cedar Still Cave, and deploy traps at Bird Bath and Roots Caves.
When we pulled traps from Cedar Still, we were not at all surprised to find there were absolutely no invertebrates. We suspect the cave is simply too cold and perhaps too extensively disturbed to support life.
This cave has been extensively used by humans. From what I can discern from this cave, it appears front portion was used prehistorically, while the back part of the cave was used historically to contemporaneously.
Root mats from Bird Bath Cave. Also, in the bottom right of this image are gold colored microbes. Dr. Diana Northup and Jessica Snider at University of New Mexico-Albuquerque are currently studying these cave microbes.Once we pulled traps, our next stop was Bird Bath Cave. The synonym for this cave was drawn from a large lava formation within the cave dark zone that actually looks like a bird bath. This cave contained roots and was also characterized by heavy invertebrate activity. Once we had deployed traps within this cave, we conducted an opportunistic search for invertebrates. We spend most of our time searching in the root mats overhead. We collected numerous spiders, springtails and attempted to collect a ovate white bug about 5 mm in length. As I tried to catch it, it jumped from the root mats and escaped.
At the back of Bird Bath, we found a fully articulated small carnivore skeleton. This is most likely a ring-tailed cat. I'm going to compare cranial specimens to make this determination. Once I do, I'll update this blog accordingly.Our opportunistic searches continued once we arrived at Roots Cave. Unfortunately, we arrived at this cave too late to deploy traps, so we chose to opportunistic collect instead. Roots cave is aptly named -- I’ve never seen so many roots in one cave. The nutrient loading associated with these roots is what is fueling the entire ecosystem within this cave. The organisms occurring with this cave is tied to the presence of these roots – without the roots, there would be few invertebrates within this cave.
This cave contained far more invertebrates than Bird Bath. However, I expect a large extent of activity to be constrained to the ceiling. Thus, it seems the opportunistic collect will serve to compliment our systematic trapping. Also, when we do this, I plan to collect a portion of the roots and use a Berlese funnel to extract these organisms.
Image: A small natural arch over the trench that contains Bird Bath Cave. Notice the small sandstone marker in the bottom left of the image. Sandstone markers are common out here and are often associated with prehistoric human use. There is a trail across the Ah-ah lava flow on the Bandera property that is lined with these sandstone markers. Jeff suggests this is an ancient Anasazi trail. The question is...did the Anasazi leave this marker?
Another March Across the Ah-ah
09 October 2007 -- Breakdown Basement and Spotted Pavement Caves
Image of me standing above Spotted Basement Cave. Image Credit: Ara Kooser.
Today, our mission was to deploy traps at two caves. We arrived at our first cave and we decided not to sample there. I’m calling this cave Breakdown Basement Cave. This cave was characterized by large person to car sized boulders littered on the ground as breakdown. This cave contained extensive dry and deflated guano, but I did not observe any recent guano deposition. Because of this, I concluded this cave was not a good candidate for survey. Additionally, we went to the first part of the cave where it constricted narrowly and the team decided the breakdown surrounding the passage was unsafe. The lack of nutrient availability coupled with potential safety hazards resulted in us deciding not to sample at this cave.
Once we made the determination this was a less than favorable cave to survey, we proceeded across the lava flow to our second cave. I’m calling this cave Spotted Pavement Cave. This cave was maze-like with a pahoehoe ribbon floor and contained multiple braids along one major passage. We decided to sample within this cave. While our initial time constrained searched did not reveal any invertebrate activity, we deployed baited pitfall traps.
Chrystal formations observed at ground level at the back of Spotted Pavement Cave.
I documented a light deposition of bat guano throughout the front half of this cave. I believe nutrient availability may limit cave diversity. I expect our additional survey when we collect traps will likely provide us with valuable insights into the diversity of this system. We know from previous work there were several invertebrates inventoried from this cave. However, I think many of these species were surface dwelling organisms, and thus were not cave-adapted or limited.
Over the past two years, I have studied this cave as part of my cave detection research. I’ve observed bat maternity activity within this cave. It contains a summer roost of Townsend's Big-eared bats. While conducting our surveys on this trip, I did not record any evidence of recent use of this cave as a Townsend big-eared bat maternity roost.
Also, on two occasions during the cave detection research, I’ve observed Rhadine beetles in the cave dark zone. I am quite eager to find out what occurs in this cave. In four days, we will return.
Image of me standing above Spotted Basement Cave. Image Credit: Ara Kooser.Today, our mission was to deploy traps at two caves. We arrived at our first cave and we decided not to sample there. I’m calling this cave Breakdown Basement Cave. This cave was characterized by large person to car sized boulders littered on the ground as breakdown. This cave contained extensive dry and deflated guano, but I did not observe any recent guano deposition. Because of this, I concluded this cave was not a good candidate for survey. Additionally, we went to the first part of the cave where it constricted narrowly and the team decided the breakdown surrounding the passage was unsafe. The lack of nutrient availability coupled with potential safety hazards resulted in us deciding not to sample at this cave.
Once we made the determination this was a less than favorable cave to survey, we proceeded across the lava flow to our second cave. I’m calling this cave Spotted Pavement Cave. This cave was maze-like with a pahoehoe ribbon floor and contained multiple braids along one major passage. We decided to sample within this cave. While our initial time constrained searched did not reveal any invertebrate activity, we deployed baited pitfall traps.
Chrystal formations observed at ground level at the back of Spotted Pavement Cave.I documented a light deposition of bat guano throughout the front half of this cave. I believe nutrient availability may limit cave diversity. I expect our additional survey when we collect traps will likely provide us with valuable insights into the diversity of this system. We know from previous work there were several invertebrates inventoried from this cave. However, I think many of these species were surface dwelling organisms, and thus were not cave-adapted or limited.
Over the past two years, I have studied this cave as part of my cave detection research. I’ve observed bat maternity activity within this cave. It contains a summer roost of Townsend's Big-eared bats. While conducting our surveys on this trip, I did not record any evidence of recent use of this cave as a Townsend big-eared bat maternity roost.
Also, on two occasions during the cave detection research, I’ve observed Rhadine beetles in the cave dark zone. I am quite eager to find out what occurs in this cave. In four days, we will return.
12 October 2007
White “Bugs” of the Mud Room
08 October 2007 – Dipluran Den and Dead Snake Caves, El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico
A cave-adapted Dipluran in the Mud Room, Dipluran Den Cave.
Today we deployed traps in Dipluran Den and Dead Snake Caves. Pete and I stayed in Grants on Sunday night so we could meet and pick up Ara Kooser and Bennett Barthelemy. Ara is going to be pursuing a PhD under Diana Northup at University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
This morning after grabbing breakfast at El Cafecito (definitely the best place to eat breakfast in Grants), and running a plethora of errands, we headed for the caves.
Dipluran Den is a cave quite close to the parking lot and is perhaps the most heavily visited cave on the monument. We needed to sample this to determine what is within the cave to better aid the monument in managing for this resource. We conducted our time constrained searches at each sampling station and didn’t find anything until we reached the “Mud Room” at the back of the cave. Here, is perhaps the only cave-adapted organisms on the monument. These tiny Diplurans are subjected to a fairly consistent regimen of disturbance from humans. I don’t expect the back of the cave receives as many visitors as the front half of the cave. Nonetheless, the “Mud Room” was covered with foot prints and scarring on the mud surface.
In addition to deploying baited pitfall traps using a systematic sampling design throughout the cave, we are also conducting time-constrained searches at each sample station. This is an image of me searching for invertebrates. Image Credit: Bennett Barthelemy.
This is the cave-adapted dipluran. This critter was originally identified by Drs. Cal Welbourn and Diana Northup during their surveys in the early 1990s. This is most likely a new species and possible a new genera. At the time specimens were collected, there was no taxonomist available to properly identify this organism.
Once we completed trapping at Dipluran Den, we went to Dead Snake Cave to deploy traps. I’m calling this cave “Dead Snake” as a synonym for the actual cave name because some unenlightened visitor to the chose to kill a gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer) within the cave. It is illegal to kill any animal on National Park Service lands.
Image: The vista on our approach to Dead Snake Cave.
At the entrance of this cave, we found evidence of pack rat. We also determined this cave was once heavily used by bats. We found deflated guano almost throughout the entire length of this cave. However, aside from night roosting (probably Townsend's Big-eared Bat Corynorhinus townsendii), there was no new evidence of bat roosting activity.
Ara and Pete (from left to right) gearing up to enter Dead Snake Cave.
A cave-adapted Dipluran in the Mud Room, Dipluran Den Cave.Today we deployed traps in Dipluran Den and Dead Snake Caves. Pete and I stayed in Grants on Sunday night so we could meet and pick up Ara Kooser and Bennett Barthelemy. Ara is going to be pursuing a PhD under Diana Northup at University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
This morning after grabbing breakfast at El Cafecito (definitely the best place to eat breakfast in Grants), and running a plethora of errands, we headed for the caves.
Dipluran Den is a cave quite close to the parking lot and is perhaps the most heavily visited cave on the monument. We needed to sample this to determine what is within the cave to better aid the monument in managing for this resource. We conducted our time constrained searches at each sampling station and didn’t find anything until we reached the “Mud Room” at the back of the cave. Here, is perhaps the only cave-adapted organisms on the monument. These tiny Diplurans are subjected to a fairly consistent regimen of disturbance from humans. I don’t expect the back of the cave receives as many visitors as the front half of the cave. Nonetheless, the “Mud Room” was covered with foot prints and scarring on the mud surface.
In addition to deploying baited pitfall traps using a systematic sampling design throughout the cave, we are also conducting time-constrained searches at each sample station. This is an image of me searching for invertebrates. Image Credit: Bennett Barthelemy.This is the cave-adapted dipluran. This critter was originally identified by Drs. Cal Welbourn and Diana Northup during their surveys in the early 1990s. This is most likely a new species and possible a new genera. At the time specimens were collected, there was no taxonomist available to properly identify this organism.
Once we completed trapping at Dipluran Den, we went to Dead Snake Cave to deploy traps. I’m calling this cave “Dead Snake” as a synonym for the actual cave name because some unenlightened visitor to the chose to kill a gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer) within the cave. It is illegal to kill any animal on National Park Service lands.
Image: The vista on our approach to Dead Snake Cave.At the entrance of this cave, we found evidence of pack rat. We also determined this cave was once heavily used by bats. We found deflated guano almost throughout the entire length of this cave. However, aside from night roosting (probably Townsend's Big-eared Bat Corynorhinus townsendii), there was no new evidence of bat roosting activity.
Ara and Pete (from left to right) gearing up to enter Dead Snake Cave.
That Ole Copper Kettle
07 October 2007 -- Cedar Still Cave, El Malpais NM, New Mexico
This is an image of a partially frozen pool with a pipe and ladder protruding the surface. Jeff Alford, a good friend of mine, and manager of Bandera Volcano Ice Caves told me this cave was used, for many years, as a whiskey still.
Well, today was much better than yesterday. All day yesterday was spent looking for caves we were unable to locate. I’m not certain if we wrote down incorrect GPS coordinates, or if the projection systems were not the same, but we did not find two of the caves we were to survey.
It was still eventful nonetheless. We walked across a massive pahoehoe flow interspersed with ahah flows, and the landscape was absolutely stunning. I also was able to watch as a grey fox climbed straight up a rock face to exit a collapse trench. We also had to cross the lava in complete darkness at the end of the day. This made for a great journey back to the truck.
Today, we deployed traps in Cedar Still Cave. We called this cave Cedar Still because rumor suggests this was once home to a whisky still. The cave floor was covered with a thick deposition or ash, charcoal and wood. There was also a lot of metal workings within the back of the cave, suggestive of this type of use as well.
Interestingly, this is an ice cave and contains the most significant amounts of year round ice. This cave has two ice pools and several large ice walls. When we pull traps on Wednesday, we will also be sampling the pools for tardigrades (water bears).
We conducted our time-constrained searches at all sampling stations and found no evidence of invertebrate life. This doesn’t mean there isn’t arthropods in this cave. It simply means, we did not find any evidence of arthropod activity. We will have to wait and see what we find in our traps on Wednesday.
Also, the front portion of the cave was littered with moth (Order Lepidopteran) wings. This suggests bats (probably Townsend's Big-eared Bat Corynorhinus townsendii) are using this cave as a night roost.
Upon our return to camp, we drove past a flock of 11 wild turkeys watering at a tank. Pete and I watched as the turkeys cross the road. This was an excellent way to end the evening. Unfortunately, the batteries in both Pete and my cameras were dead. So, we didn’t get to photograph them as they crossed in front of us.
This is an image of a partially frozen pool with a pipe and ladder protruding the surface. Jeff Alford, a good friend of mine, and manager of Bandera Volcano Ice Caves told me this cave was used, for many years, as a whiskey still. Well, today was much better than yesterday. All day yesterday was spent looking for caves we were unable to locate. I’m not certain if we wrote down incorrect GPS coordinates, or if the projection systems were not the same, but we did not find two of the caves we were to survey.
It was still eventful nonetheless. We walked across a massive pahoehoe flow interspersed with ahah flows, and the landscape was absolutely stunning. I also was able to watch as a grey fox climbed straight up a rock face to exit a collapse trench. We also had to cross the lava in complete darkness at the end of the day. This made for a great journey back to the truck.
Today, we deployed traps in Cedar Still Cave. We called this cave Cedar Still because rumor suggests this was once home to a whisky still. The cave floor was covered with a thick deposition or ash, charcoal and wood. There was also a lot of metal workings within the back of the cave, suggestive of this type of use as well.
Interestingly, this is an ice cave and contains the most significant amounts of year round ice. This cave has two ice pools and several large ice walls. When we pull traps on Wednesday, we will also be sampling the pools for tardigrades (water bears).
We conducted our time-constrained searches at all sampling stations and found no evidence of invertebrate life. This doesn’t mean there isn’t arthropods in this cave. It simply means, we did not find any evidence of arthropod activity. We will have to wait and see what we find in our traps on Wednesday.
Also, the front portion of the cave was littered with moth (Order Lepidopteran) wings. This suggests bats (probably Townsend's Big-eared Bat Corynorhinus townsendii) are using this cave as a night roost.
Upon our return to camp, we drove past a flock of 11 wild turkeys watering at a tank. Pete and I watched as the turkeys cross the road. This was an excellent way to end the evening. Unfortunately, the batteries in both Pete and my cameras were dead. So, we didn’t get to photograph them as they crossed in front of us.
When Bats are Smarter than Scientists…
28 September 2007 -- Environmental Ecology (ENV 326) Bat Lab
This is a shot of me speaking with my students about how to sample for bats. Image Credit: Bennett Barthelemy.
I've fallen a bit behind on my blogs. I'm posting this from a blog that I wrote the weekend of 28 September 2007.
In an attempt to give my students more exposure to actual field techniques, fieldwork, and perhaps place them in contact with researchers who may be able to provide them with summer job opportunities, Moran (my TA) and I decided to overhaul the ENV 326 lab. This will entail bat, cave, bird, vegetation and climate change labs.
The first on our agenda was the bat. I was able to convince one of my good buddies, Ben Solvesky (School of Forestry M.S. candidate in bat ecology), to lead the lab. We decided upon a pit in Sedona to mist net and conduct emergent counts of bats. Ben and his girlfriend, Summer, had gone out the night before to determine if the pit actually contained bats – somewhat of a prerequisite for a bat lab. If bats were present, his plan was to determine how many, and figure out which way they exited the pit. The latter point being critical to setting up the mist net – we needed to set the net within their flyway, otherwise the work would be all for naught.
Ben and Summer estimated at least 50 bats and determined they were exiting to the north. So, gravid with this information, Ben and I felt confident we would catch plenty of bats for the lab and thus be able to demonstrate the capture techniques with the students, and also give them the opportunity to view a bat in the hand.
Friday rolled around, and it was time to catch some bats. Ben, two of my students and I arrived early to set up. The rest of the students and Moran, would be showing up about an hour after we arrived.
It was a beautiful evening in Sedona. It was warm, around 70 degrees and overcast. The latter would prove to make for a beautiful sunset. So, we set up mist net, the bat processing station (this is the area we would actually measure bats), and the exit count station. This is where we had a video camera with Night Shot capabilities, an IR light and a pair of IR goggles. Now, everything was ready to go.
Moran and the rest of my students arrived shortly thereafter, and now all we had to do was wait for the sun to set and the bats to emerge. Ben had predicted the bats would emerge at exactly 1833hr – exactly 1833hr.
The first bat emerged at 1836hr! So, old Ben was wrong! Ever sense he had made that statement, I had wanted the bats to prove him wrong – and they did.
The bats continued to get the better of us that night. We didn’t catch one bat. Every single bat flew over our net. All we needed was one bat for show my students. However, the bats chose not to cooperate.
I'm holding a praying mantis. This was the only thing we captured in the mist net on that night. Image Credit: Bennett Barthelemy.
Fortunately, the night was not completely unproductive. All the students were able to count bats as they emerged from their roost using IR goggles and/ or a video camera with an IR light. We had two groups for this operation. One using the IR goggles, the other were viewing bats through the video camera. I totaled each count and took the average. There were two species totaling ~64 bats.
After the bats exited the roost, we hiked back to the vehicles and headed home.
This is a shot of me speaking with my students about how to sample for bats. Image Credit: Bennett Barthelemy.I've fallen a bit behind on my blogs. I'm posting this from a blog that I wrote the weekend of 28 September 2007.
In an attempt to give my students more exposure to actual field techniques, fieldwork, and perhaps place them in contact with researchers who may be able to provide them with summer job opportunities, Moran (my TA) and I decided to overhaul the ENV 326 lab. This will entail bat, cave, bird, vegetation and climate change labs.
The first on our agenda was the bat. I was able to convince one of my good buddies, Ben Solvesky (School of Forestry M.S. candidate in bat ecology), to lead the lab. We decided upon a pit in Sedona to mist net and conduct emergent counts of bats. Ben and his girlfriend, Summer, had gone out the night before to determine if the pit actually contained bats – somewhat of a prerequisite for a bat lab. If bats were present, his plan was to determine how many, and figure out which way they exited the pit. The latter point being critical to setting up the mist net – we needed to set the net within their flyway, otherwise the work would be all for naught.
Ben and Summer estimated at least 50 bats and determined they were exiting to the north. So, gravid with this information, Ben and I felt confident we would catch plenty of bats for the lab and thus be able to demonstrate the capture techniques with the students, and also give them the opportunity to view a bat in the hand.
Friday rolled around, and it was time to catch some bats. Ben, two of my students and I arrived early to set up. The rest of the students and Moran, would be showing up about an hour after we arrived.
It was a beautiful evening in Sedona. It was warm, around 70 degrees and overcast. The latter would prove to make for a beautiful sunset. So, we set up mist net, the bat processing station (this is the area we would actually measure bats), and the exit count station. This is where we had a video camera with Night Shot capabilities, an IR light and a pair of IR goggles. Now, everything was ready to go.
Moran and the rest of my students arrived shortly thereafter, and now all we had to do was wait for the sun to set and the bats to emerge. Ben had predicted the bats would emerge at exactly 1833hr – exactly 1833hr.
The first bat emerged at 1836hr! So, old Ben was wrong! Ever sense he had made that statement, I had wanted the bats to prove him wrong – and they did.
The bats continued to get the better of us that night. We didn’t catch one bat. Every single bat flew over our net. All we needed was one bat for show my students. However, the bats chose not to cooperate.
I'm holding a praying mantis. This was the only thing we captured in the mist net on that night. Image Credit: Bennett Barthelemy.Fortunately, the night was not completely unproductive. All the students were able to count bats as they emerged from their roost using IR goggles and/ or a video camera with an IR light. We had two groups for this operation. One using the IR goggles, the other were viewing bats through the video camera. I totaled each count and took the average. There were two species totaling ~64 bats.
After the bats exited the roost, we hiked back to the vehicles and headed home.
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