Bat Research at Wind Wolves Preserve

Summer 2022

Jul 21

Moksha Badarayan
Outdoor Education Coordinator
Wind Wolves Preserve

On several late evenings across May and June 2022, visiting bat researcher Zeinab (Rose) Haidar (graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt) and several field assistants, including bat expert William E. Haas (Director of the Central Coast Bat Survey), recorded audio and physical data on Wind Wolves Preserve bat species. Wind Wolves staff were invited to assist the research team on their mission to record both audio and physical data on our local bat species. Haidar was particularly interested in capturing red tree bats (Lasiurus borealis and Lasiurus blossevillii/frantzii) to further her study of their biogeography and phylogenetics. Biogeography is the study of the range of a particular species while phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary relationships between certain species. Researchers recently discovered that the ranges of these two species overlap, which may lead to hybridization. Another goal of Haidar’s research is to create an improved method for distinguishing the two nearly identical species as well as other closely-related species.

After inspecting multiple sites at the preserve, Haidar decided The Crossing and Twin Fawns had several great locations that would funnel bats into the mist nets during their feeding flight. As the sun receded below the horizon, the research team and Wind Wolves Preserve staff set up six mist nets around The Crossing, including a “triple high” that reached thirty four feet into the air! According to Haidar, the nets are not invisible to the bats. They can still sense them using echolocation; nevertheless, the netting is so fine that bats notice it too late and “trip,” as we would on an overlooked rock in our path.

As the night progressed, the researchers checked the nets approximately every ten minutes, carefully placed bats into labeled bags made from brown paper or cloth, and returned to the data collection station. There, they would gently examine, identify, and record measurements of the bats’ wings, ears, and thumbs before punching a tiny hole in their wings to collect a tissue sample for later DNA analysis and quickly releasing each bat.