A fresh look at bat identification and more on CERCA's 2022 Bat Project
The results of our 2022 bat recordings are currently being processed by Cliff Stainsby. All in all, it was a successful season which allows for comparing the relative abundance of bats from ten strategically located locations and habitat types in the Cowichan Valley. Recordings started in mid-June and continued until the end of October when species began to disappear in preparation for their winter dormancy. At some of the locations, recordings were taken from dusk to dawn in an attempt to identify species-specific feeding patterns. However, since such data were not available for all locations the results are of anecdotal value only. Taking this into consideration, we will make sure that identical recording periods will be used at all locations during the 2023 season.
Unfortunately bat species identification by the echometers used has to be taken with a grain of salt due to similarities in echo sounds of some of the species. To shed some light on this issue, Dr. Bernhard Juurlink, one of our CERCA members, has compared sonograms of species identified at his location and verified sonograms of the same species elsewhere His most interesting findings are summarized in the following article he produced.
If you are interested to learn more about species-specific bat distribution by habitat in BC, their biology, activity pattern, feeding behaviour, protection status, and management recommendation the following link refers.
As soon as the summary report on this year's recordings is finalized I will publish it on our website. The 2022 recording locations with links to recording data for each site will be added by Tristan Douglas to our interactive map located at the bottom of CERCA's home page.
Goetz Schuerholz, Chair