April 11th - Bat processing.

Tonight we'll show you the tools of the trade, nothing complex, but simple gear that minimizes the stress on the bats that are being handled, weighted and measured.

We have begun temporary marking of captured bats to see how many get recaptured. By using small patches of various colors of quick drying nail polish we can determine the date the bat was previously captured. We have started this because we are curious to see if bats coming in on cold nights are ones roosting in the area (hence the bats coming in each cold night would be a subset of the local population) or if we get new bats the next cold snap. With our weather luck the weather will warm up and stay warm (not that that would be all that bad.....).

Electronic table scale and duct-taped toilet paper tube. Bats love these tubes, calm down quickly and can be weighed easily and accurately. We've found that plastic bags and spring scales do a lot of bouncing when bats are scrambling around in them and cloth bags can be difficult to get centered on a scale.

Treebats are best held and weighed in cloth bags.

Here our little brown bat has been weighed and is relaxing in the tube. Bats will frequently go to sleep in these tubes. Before packing it away at the end of the night you must double check for bats trying to stowaway.

Forearm measurement. Digital calipers are cheap, accurate, and bats can be held gently, but firmly while being measured.

(Crystal Anderson - hand model.)

A little brown with a swatch of the color of the night drying on his fur. This patch was a bit bigger than I wanted, but not bad for the first try.
This northern long eared bat was the second marked and he got a perfect sized little dab of Soar Perle (and yes that's how it's spelled) nail enamel.