Justin, you and David and Eric and well, all of you, seem to be very timely with what you have to say in your posts.

I just came back from fishing a dead raccoon out of a window well through the basement window. The customer wanted to know what it died of and since it didn't have any marks on the body and we don't have rabies, I told the customer that it was more than likely distemper. Being able to explain things is truly an advantage. I'm sure that customer appreciates the knowledgeable technician that came to his door.

Now if I just wouldn't have forgotten my flashlight in his basement, I would really be happy.

Very nice example Paul! (oh and if I had a nickel for every light or tool I've left in the attic or crawlspace in the last 3 years I'd be able to stop and retire now!)

I really can not come up with a better way to describe how I approach and identify things around me than what birders and ornithologists have already been doing under the term gestalt. This passage best explains gestalt birding.

http://books.google.com/books?id=TMtB8CG767EC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=gestalt+birding&source=bl&ots=Y1FvtSo8nE&sig=Y0_-UEIOFZToazSPDveMxa0kOFk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z1ARUtSFLISp2gW3kYCoBQ&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=gestalt%20birding&f=false

"The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" is a phrase used to describe both gestalt birding and phsycology. And that is how I approach wildlife as often the only thing we have to work with is scanty descriptions by clients, odors, stains, partial or whole tracks, fecal matter or other evidences short of the whole animal. But for this to work I have to be constantly cogniscent of past experiences and be careful to fit the parts into what is known and not to make suppositions on the unknown. But of course each unknown carried out to a positive conclusion only adds to past experience.
I also highly value this forum and the experiences of each of you as even non personal experiences related to me only add to my knowledge base. Thank you.

Paul - I just need a picture of their face to tell if Big or Little Browns.

What's hard is getting them to let you open their wallet for the pic Dave!

Paul,

The first step for bat identification needs to be a personal assessment of the operator's/technician's abilities. Let's face it, if you're colorblind then the chances of you being able to identify Tri-colored, Hoary, Silver-haired, Eastern Red bat, northern yellow bat, or any species where color can be a determining factor for quick identification is probably out of the question. Additionally, if you can't see certain details clearly such as face shape, ear shape, tragus shape, long or short fur, thumbs, etc. on the bats you'd have a hard time identifying them without having it in hand, a species identification chart, and some "special" equipment.

Taking all this into account I recommend any operator/technician that will be working with bats learn about the bats in the service area. I say service area because the last I knew, bats aren't reading the same "reports" we do and just don't realize that there are rules they are supposed to be following. For instance, Ohio has 10 - 14 bat species (based on who you want to believe) while Indiana has about 15 and Kentucky 16. At a minimum, my knowledge should include the 10 - 14 species found in Ohio but ideally, I should also know the other one or two from adjacent states as I may encounter them based on job site location. Personally, I feel the best way to find out this information is from your State DNR/Wildlife departments. I say State DNR/Wildlife departments as the "14" species of Ohio contains two species that were found twice, and three species that have never been found but are considered by environmental groups to be here because of potential habitat.

This base knowledge should help rule out a lot of species and their potential conflicts especially when you factor in the time of year and number of bats found.

Eric, I wholeheartedly agree that we need to have a working knowledge of all the species in our respective service areas. Not only bats but snakes, turtles, squirrels, rats and everything else. Bats aren't the only species with may encounter that either are on the list or are of concern, barbour's map turtle and indigo snake come to mind here plus a handful of salamanders. But, yes, if you hold yourself out as a bat specialist I think there ought to be some standard do so.
On the color blind thing though, depends on the degree and type of color deficiency. I myself have the common sex linked red/green color deficiency. My form does not allow me to discern certain light wavelengths in the red and green range mostly teal/aqua fushia/mauve and some purples. I can pickup one wavelength such as the blues in teal and to me teal green looks blue as the green component is almost totally missed. Like folks with other handicaps though I am totally aware of my short comings and can pick up on other cues that lead me to double check with other normal sighted persons, for instance teal does not appear the same to me as a pure blue color of the same blue wavelength but more of a "dirty" or "stained" blue as the wavelengths I can not discern are registered as greys. I do see the bold reds and greens but I am sure I do not see them as others do. It is so subtle though that were it not for the occasional corrections in tie color or apparel matching by my wife and loved ones and the confirmation by my opthamologist it could be totally missed.
Enough about that I posted that to try to show how we each need to be observant of our own abilities and look for the subtle cues that define the whole aka the gestalt of what we are seeing.
Now on to your comment that ideally we should be able to get our information and reference material from our DNRs. I'm not sure how your's works but I know all to well how ours works. If it ain't deer, turkey or bass it's a special project and only the cute or litigated get special project status. All others are SOL. When a wildlife biologist directly asked when the state is going to do a population survey of the species he is specifically tasked with replies "it'll never happen" it gives me very little hope for change. When our year end reports are sent in with this curt report "all legal species all legal methods" and are accepted for license and permit renewal it too gives me pause.
I'd like to share the story of one of our "species of concern" to give you an idea of how information is gained here. The Rafinesque's Big Eared Bat has long been listed as a species of concern in this state because it's has been found in this state in the form of a single individual a few times but very little was known about it including it's roosting habits, habitat needs, birthing season or just the basic knowledge of the species. It was assumed to have similar life needs of other big eared bats such as being a tree rooster of swamps but no one ever bothered to confirm this until a UGA graduate student set out to make this bat the basis of his thesis. This young man set out to explore the state until he found some bats to study. He not only succeeded but discovered at least three active maternity roosts and was able to determine that the Rafinesque's required old growth water tupelo swamps for it's reproductive habitat. Specifically huge old trees that had hollowed out to large cavities in standing water. I saw a picture of this researcher standing completely inside one of these "gums". To the best of my knowledge he has been the only one to do any research into this bat and the state has not allocated any resources for the study.
The reason I say this is that it is in my opinion us NWCOs that deal with bats day in and day out that may have the larger share of knowledge than most of our DNRs. It is for this reason that should we ever get special category for bats it's going to have to be us NWCOs that have oversight on how that category is managed.

I believe in this case both David and Eric have very valid points.

The state you live in and the current "non-game" biologists, along with the division chief or head of said wildlife agency play a major role in what or how things get done, and who is allowed to learn enough to be up to speed.

In nearly every state you can count on non game species getting the bad end of the stick as quite simply until the last decade or so, the goal was on raising funds and that happens through license sales for hunting and fishing.

Now WNS unfortunately has been the nasty even that has caused more non game funding to occur but it is still a ridiculously low amount.

Speaking as an ex fed, state and fed agencies hire based on a set of qualifications and then once you get someone in the job they are tasked with any number of things. Rarely do you see a "bat biologist" position, but they do exist.

So generally a non game biologist is going to have to try to know a bit about everything from turtles, to insects, to bats, and so on and so forth...

Then we have funding of that position and where the requests come from. If they don't have special funding or grants for bats specifically, research is only going to happen if a university sends a student as in David's example.

I would still say that it is important to use the local game and fish or dnr as a resource and hopefully a colleague that will allow for sharing of knowledge.

In some states I can tell you they are very much trying to learn more about NWCO's and the more professional nwco's lead that discussion the better for the industry.

I have two amazing non game biologists in this state and talk to them at least once a month even if just to share the type of maternity colonies we see during summer, or report an interesting finding. Same goes for some fed agencies where we've made some friends and private folks that are "bat people."

It is a tragedy that we don't have a balanced dept. in every state and an interest but that usually comes down to funding and politics and always will.

Good points again by both!