April 6th

Antenna madness!

Aiming for increased mobility we mounted one of the Null Peak systems on Toms 4x4. Handles back roads way better than the van. The below right picture shows the antenna in motion on a dirt road at pretty darn high speed.

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Had a visit from Jim Hart (PA's state mammologist) today, he was looking particularly civilized, recent hair cut and trimmed beard. Unfortunately I forgot to photodocument the civilized Hart, so there's no proof. He gave us a copy of Harvey, Altenbach, and Best's Bats of the United States, very nice. Great pictures and good summary of each species. Written for the layman, but still a good quick reference and great educational book. He also brought news of the outside world and tales of bat happenings near and far. Three cheers for Jim Hart!

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Started thinking about omni-directional antennas and mounting systems. A in-phaze array of four 5/8 wavelength antennas separated by 1 or .5 wavelengths may make finding the area the bats are in much easier, then use 3 & 4 element Yagi antennas to pin them down. Talked to the antenna man Brian at AVM (our telemetry gear source) and got a system worked out that should allow detection of the bats while moving. This should greatly increase our ability to cover large areas in search of roosts. Vehicle electrical system noise is significant, but not crippling (except in Tom's vehicle, which is silent.... and in the black van which is deafening.) Now we await delivery...... Will the sodalis wait too?

Tom Malabad and the sky high null peak system.

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Much later.......

Things are hopping tonight, had over 50 bats (including 2 caught while still full daylight). Mainly long eareds, little browns, a single pip, and one sodalis. Number of females to males has jumped, still catching more males, but the gap is closing.

The first sodalis of the project weighed in under the USFWS minimum weight for fitting with a transmitter, so was banded and released. The bat was frisky, healthy looking, and calmed down after a few minutes of handling.

All the pictures below are linked to larger images, so click for hi-resolution.

	This is the best one, the high resolution picture is beautiful.