Photo By Andrew Stamer | Gary Pelton, biologist, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, releases a...... read more read more
By Jeremy Chamberlain, wildlife management intern,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District
KEENE, N.H. - Gary Pelton, a USACE biologist, and his crew of seven Student Conservation Association interns have been collecting data on bats for the state of New Hampshire to help with population estimates. This will help the state to determine whether or not the little brown bat should be classified as an endangered species in the state. The data collected this year in New Hampshire will be compared to data collected in pre-white-nose-syndrome years.
On a typical night of batting, anywhere from three to six mist nets are put up in various places on one of the Upper Connecticut River Basin’s New Hampshire projects. The nets are usually placed in the same area as in a previous year so that the capture data can be accurately compared from year to year. The nets are opened when it starts to get dark and are typically left open for approximately four hours. Net checks are done every 15-20 minutes to check for captured bats.
This year has been a peculiar year for mist netting bats in New Hampshire. So far this year, the team has gone mist netting a total of 13 nights at three locations in New Hampshire. In the first eight nights of netting, only 15 bats were caught in the nets. During the five most recent nights of netting, 74 bats were caught in the nets. So far, the best night this year had a total of 24 bats caught. Pelton stated, “This was the best night I have had in several years.”
As of Aug. 3, the team has netted a total of 89 bats, consisting of five species this year in the Upper Connecticut River Basin. Of the 89 bats caught, 79 were Big Brown bats, two were Little Brown Bats, two were Eastern Small-footed Bats, one was an Eastern Red Bat, and one was a Hoary Bat. The other four were bats that were captured in the nets but either did not get caught enough or were in the nets and chewed themselves out. Ten of the bats that netted this year were ones that had been banded previously in New Hampshire. The re-netting of a previously netted and banded bat does not happen very often, but when it does it is always a good thing. When a banded bat is caught, it allows for the comparison of data from the previous capture to the current capture. This data is good because it lets the biologists know how a bat has grown since it was first netted. It also allows biologists to see if the bat has contracted White Nose Syndrome and check the status of the bat's health.
A few other animals have been caught in our nets as well this year. The team has also caught six flying squirrels, one Hermit Thrush, two wood moths, and two dragonflies. A bird or a dragonfly is caught in the mist nets every once in a while when they are returning to their resting spots for the night. Flying squirrels are caught when they are gliding from tree to tree and our nets happen to be in their path.
Flying squirrels can wreak havoc on the mist nets if not removed quickly because they can chew themselves out, which makes very large holes and sometimes they will chew through the leaders which make the nets much less effective at catching bats.
Pelton and his crew will continue to mist net bats at least into September, and with 89 bats netted already, this is looking like a good year for collecting bat data. Let's hope the bats keep coming.
| Date Taken: | 08.30.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 11.04.2011 11:30 |
| Story ID: | 79560 |
| Location: | KEENE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, US |
| Web Views: | 145 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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