bats are still here in WA,,,,,,,, Never seen this in 13 years??????

I was doing a watch at a golf course at dusk last nite for remaining muskrat activity and saw 1 small brown bat make a couple of passes across one of the pond tiers I was watching.Obviously it is a wintering bat or is late in migrating.

this was 6 or 7 outside the window of the cabin,,,,,,, Might have been migrating but,,I was for 3 nights in a row....

Bats usually are out of here mid September

Back at the cabin now so we will look again

Dave I see them come out here at all times of the year.

We had a brown bat in the warehouse Monday,little guy cleaning up the few insects that are left. Normally don't see them this time of year.

Most of my bats are gone, but we do have a small wintering over population in homes. I did a couple homes Thursday and Friday that still had a good number of bats in the soffits but most are gone. here in the southern part of Jersey I will see a few bats flying around when I am deer hunting in DEC if the day time temps are in the upper 40's which is normal temps for us.

We have a few Mexican free-tail bats left, but most myotis species left are local hibernator a that travel less than 300 miles to hibernate. As long as there is good insect activity they can keep adding weight for winter. As soon as the "optimal foraging" starts dropping off and it costs more to hunt than you are gaining they have to head for caves and hibernacula.

Some bat species research shows move less than 50 miles to hibernate, others 300+, while migraters can go 1,000 plus including free tail bats, though as those in the south know, that species has plasticity and can hibernate in parts of the US.

The ability of bats is an amazing thing that shows incredible evolutionary adaptations.

Hands down best wildlife I work with!

Justin

When i was a roofer years ago, we would find one or two under the shake ridge cap

WA has a diverse climate range.......I believe we have 5 climate regions

I will find wintering bats 30 miles away in the mountains

I have never found wintering bats in the island,,,, does not mean it won't happen


When I sit in my front yard and start to see bats fly over the corn field I know the Island calls will begin within a week,,,,, lOW coastal calls will begin 3-4 weeks later,,,,

Vinke, when we lived in Portland and "enjoyed that nw winter, we resided our house and I ran more than a few out from under old wood siding. The nw is amazing as you say so many climates and topography and wildlife too!

I used to drive over to madras for feral hog work and it was a tour from rainforest to high desert, awesome!

While we lack the moisture here I find the sw just as incredible.

I was thinking this morning when I stop washing bugs off the windshield is when our bats are done for the year.

Justin

Hey Justin, how did you and your lovely bride decide on New Mexico as your residence? I mean, you guys have been almost everywhere and there are maybe two other ADC guys that I can name from New Mexico. I admire the fact that you picked one of the hardest areas to make a living in this business, but come on, there had to be extenuating circumstances, or a love of the country, or something, to make you pick NM.

Paul, You make me nostalgic thinking about why and how we ended here in our national journey. Sometime I'll tell you the long story,
but the short version is after 3 duty stations with the feds, the last one was here in NM. We had just bought a house only 3 years prior
and moving wasn't a great financial option. Couple that with the weather helping the chronic pain illnesses my wife deals with, plus
a fairly low cost of living, and a population of folks who fancy themselves wildlife friendly, and we just had to give it a go here.

We run as you know an "unorthodox" business model, but we also have some opportunity that comes with our backgrounds that has
us getting some contracting work with state, local and other govt. agencies and we've made some very positive relationships in parts
of the state that have good wildlife populations that keep us moving up financially.

I would say, many folks would pull their hair out in this state if they run a normal nwco model. Most wildlife including raccoon, beaver,
bobcat, fox, that are fair game or allowed for nwcos with permit are typically done by game wardens, or have strict regs for capture/release
sites that make them financially challenging.

While we do have folks willing to spend for services, we find the market level from what I charge and what I see and hear others charge
is not where it is in most of the eastern and midwestern states.

I do believe many folks would be afraid of not succeeding if they were where we are right now, but I'm confident if I keep plugging along
we will make it to where we want to be.

The best part of living here is it is good for my wife and we've met great people that make nearly every day one to smile about!

Wow, now thats the short version, have to tell you the longer one another time!



Justin

Glad I asked. There are a couple of family members that would benefit from your climate, including yours truly, so I understand better than most.

STILL bats in WA,,,,,, time to check AZ........

Vinke,

Still bats In Tucson, answered some questions for some folks.
I'm heading to las cruces this morning for a bat exclusion, still 100+ at their house.
In Los Lunas on our study site only 10 bats left looking very chilly.

Polar bat club!

Most other bat calls are singles in stucco entries and most are just people that thin they should be hibernating or migrating already.

Justin

bat call on the islands yesterday,,,,,,droppings started in bathroom 1 week ago,,,,,.....flying up to check it out this week

Vinke, 67 degrees on Sunday; 28 degrees Monday morning. All of our bats just moved in with the woodchucks!

WA had 34 degrees daytime temps on Friday,,,,,back to 60's.......

bats still flying in southern MN.....

Received a call today from a construction company owner in Pontiac, MI. Crew discovered a colony of bats hibernating in the upstairs ceiling while they were tearing out the ceilings and walls for re-construct.

In my area (midwest) it is COMMON for big browns to hibernate in the same structures they use for summer roost sites. I see it frequently. I don't care what the "academics" claim. I live in Realville. Never seen Little Brown Myotis in structures during winter, though.

Ron,

The point you bring up came up in another thread that didn't end up going far. Big browns and a few others in other parts of the country further south staying over during the winter. So what if you come to a particular job right as the colder weather comes on, I think I've seen you mention in earlier years about leaving some cones or one ways till spring to be sure any in the building will be able to leave?

I get far more smaller myotis species and MFT bats than big browns, but like big browns I get pallids that can overwinter in our stucco and adobe walled homes out here. Down near the mexican border I have a few colonies of MFT (free-tail bats) that are still in the house but acoustically you wouldn't know it if you weren't there in late afternoon, as in the morning they are in deep torpor still. I'm going to be leaving some one ways on a couple of jobs down there because the wall voids aren't something I can see into and I believe I have a reasonable chance of locking/sealing them in if I don't do this.

Interestingly something that fits what you are saying about big brown/little brown differences was presented in June at the WNS symposium. Researchers looked at big brown and little browns in caves in one of the eastern seaboard states and found that not only were big browns closer to the mouth of the cave where temps differ more, but they "arouse" more often, coming out of torpor during the winter than little browns, which were found deeper in the caves where humidity and temp are more stable.

Obviously any of us can look at the body size and realize that as small a difference as it is in terms of these little species, the difference is huge in terms of body mass and ability to add fat and still fly.

I would expect these differences to be similar in their ability to stay in a house during the winter and would depend on the solid structure of the house, or species of bat.

I think its a good discussion about doing late in the year bat exclusion and taking precautions, especially with concerns for sealing in bats. Not everyone does internal home seal ups, which means also that if we seal bats on the exterior and there are attics or other voids, these bats can end up inside the house when spring arrives or during a winter movement.

Up north any work where I need caulk or other sealants to work as was discussed in a similar thread the other week I'm out already till spring, but down south I still get warm weather for curing.

I think to the point of the academics who suggest bats don't overwinter, I see a gross lack of bat biologists connecting with folks who have bats in their homes, those like us who work to get bats out of homes, buildings and offices as well. This isn't much different than the disparity we see in many other fields with the disconnect.

Back east I do think (east of the Mississippi at this time) that these folks will be seeking more knowledge from private operators in the coming couple of years due to WNS. If bats that are in critically low numbers in cave counts are routinely spending winters in houses, this could prove to be a salvation of sorts, or at least something where samples would or could be taken to see if these areas are WNS free, or if they simply provide another "cave" type situation to grow the fungus.

Okay, way too long, most folks won't read this whole thing, so I'll stop there....



Glad to see you around Ron, you've shared valuable info with me starting up not only on bats, but pigeons and other species.

Justin