Batting

bat_mug_shot.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

A couple weeks ago, Sara and I went for an evening of catching bats on the East Fork River in the Jemez Mountains. Of course, we don't know a damn thing about how to catch bats and then what to do with them. Fortunately for us; however, we met up with bat expert Lyle from the Fish and Wildlife Service, our Forest biologist Jo, and my boss who's a recovering biologist.

I thought we might catch a bat or two and that it would be a good chance to learn some more stuff about where I work. It took us a couple hours to set up three nets that spanned the river, each approximately 100-150 feet from each other. After setting up the nets, Sara and I took a break to drive to our camp site and set up our tent. By the time we got back it was 8:45 pm and the bats were just coming out.

For the next three hours there was a constant barrage of bats caught in the nets. It was amazing. First of all, I never realized how many bats there were flying around in the forest at night. I was completely oblivious. The other shocker was that out of the two dozen plus bats we caught... there were about seven different species! From a biological perspective that's pretty amazing... it's like finding seven different types of squirrels in a city park.

It was also pretty interesting because each different species had a different personality and temperment. For example the silver haired (pictured above) and hoary bats would go absolutely nuts when caught in the mist nets. They'd thrash around and tie themselves in knots. They'd also bite and squawk and hiss and click as if you thought they would explode. The myotis bats, free-tailed, and the big brown bats on the other hand, would sit morosely in the net until carefully extracted. Some even seemed to pose for pictures (see the photo below of the Mexican free-tailed).

Though not the craziest way of spending a Friday night, we all had a blast.