April 25th

The night of the 23rd our transmittered sodalis took a 8+ (straight line) mile jump east down the river/stream it was roosting near. It ended up in a old dead sycamore tree, roosting under the bark about three to four meters off the ground.

Three views of the roost tree and patch of bark the bat was (is) roosting under.

When the bat moved, it moved fast, it came out and foraged in the vicinity of roost one for a while. Then it was off like a shot with us in hot pursuit. I was suspecting that the bat would head north up one of the infeeders to the main stream, so we put a lot of effort into keeping that route covered. The bat had other ideas and stayed along the main waterway. It was in motion for around two hours before settling down in this sycamore.
 
Bat (not visually confirmed) located to under this patch of exfoliating bark.

 

Crystal on the paperwork. Main stream is visible behind her.
Ah, the data gathering. DBH, height, species, and distance from roost tree, for all trees within 15 meters of the roost.

DBH gathering, water seen is a spur off of the main stream channel.

Clingy underbrush made Mick's taping off 100 feet from the trees to get a tree height an amusing spectacle.

Crystal getting a inclination to the base of one of the surrounding trees.

It was really a beautiful day to be out in the woods, by a babbling brook, in the sun. Trout lillys and may apples were coming up throughout the area. Some of the smaller shrubs were close to leaf out, but the trees were probably still a week away.