First Bat for 2024!

Sharing this from the Western Bat Working Group list serve, looks like bats are already out here in the Pacific Northwest! Bats are notoriously hard to document and ID on the wing unless you capture them for surveys (bat in the hand) or submit an audio file from a bat detector. But don't despair about not having a detector. We've had some images submitted for Surrey of bats in flight.

Subject: #FirstBat 2024
It’s time for the #FirstBat of the year campaign! Dust off your bat detectors and add fresh batteries.
Birders record and brag about the first bird they see each year. We can do this too by setting up bat detectors to see which species we first detect.

So set up your acoustic detector as soon as you see this (ideally on the night of December 31, 2023) and detect and identify the first bat of year in 2024! The person who submits the first bat species ID in each state or province wins a prize (see attached), so yes, YOU have a chance to win prizes and glory.
Oh.. you think it’s too cold, rainy, windy, snowy to detect bats? Well.. 1) you may be in for a surprise and 2) the contest runs until April 1 so you can still be first to report a species detected in your state/province.
What to do:

1. Set up an acoustic detector as early as possible in 2024 (or really improve your chances by setting it up now)….or start your nightly bat walks with a handheld variety.
2. Check on the detector every week or so to download data and check battery life (always a good idea with long-term detectors especially in the winter).
3. Identify the species detected on each night of monitoring using your preferred methods (auto-identification software, manual inspection, whatever)
4. Submit results of the species detected and when and where you detected it at: https://forms.gle/toxr2YJEHvfVFHDV9
5. Note, if you have a long time series it will be more convenient to use the instructions https://databasin2-demo.s3.amazonaws.com/batamp/Batch_Upload_for_BatAMP.pdf to upload results from all nights of monitoring (including those when no bats were detected).

6. Please report nights with no species detected or confirmed….knowing when/where bats are not active is also good information.
   Results will be summarized ca. monthly and state/provincial winners announced then. Remember, even if it takes you until April to report your first bat detected, you might still detect the first bat. But submitting results early is encouraged.

Ted Weller
Ecologist
Forest Service
Pacific Southwest Research Station
p: 707-825-2955
theodore.weller@usda.gov

1700 Bayview Drive
Arcata, CA 95521
www.fs.fed.us
Caring for the land and serving people

Posted on January 4, 2024 10:22 PM by surrey-bc_biodiversity