Dreams come true

So, I was beyond excited when I got this internship. It is working primarily with bats, which is exactly what I have been wanting to do, for a very long time. In the back of my mind though, there was always the concern that it wouldn't live up to the high expectations I had built up in my mind. Would it really be everything I had hoped it would be? Is this truly what I want to go to grad school for? Well, after our first week of trapping, I can say with fairly high confidence that yes. This is in fact something I love to pieces.

part of the refuge

On last Tuesday night we did our first night of mist netting, but due to poor weather (it was quite cold, and bugs were fairly non-existent) we did not catch anything. Even so, I still enjoyed the night. There is just something about working at night that I truly enjoy. The world is a completely different place at night. All the sounds are different, everything looks different, it is just a very peaceful experience, at least for me. Probably the coolest thing that night was when we heard what sounded like a group of coyote pups making quite a racket. They had to have been fairly close to us in the end. I had never heard anything like it; it was so cool!

setting up mist nets

Wednesday night we went out once again. This time we were able to put up a second mist net, increasing our chances of catching something. Also, the weather was a lot better and a lot more bugs were present. From the start we were all a lot more optimistic. The second time we checked the nets, we had caught something! And not just one, but THREE bats! In one net. Already I felt a rush of excitement. Because there were so many, we all got practice. The woman who came out with us to help train us and get us comfortable handling bats took at the first one, showing us all the best way to do it. You basically need to figure out which direction that bat flew into the net, then pin the body, and start freeing the bat from the net, beginning with the tail. Once the tail is free, you can move on to one of the wings, starting at the elbow and moving away from the body. When that wing is free you pin it and pull it away so the bat wont get it re-tangled, and then you are able to free the remaining wing. I was able to do it with relative ease. Must say I was pleasantly surprised. It will just take some time to became familiar with how tightly you can handle the bats... I tend to be overly cautious which makes it harder to do. I'm sure over time I will get more comfortable though. :)

Once the bats were freed from the nets, we brought them over to our work table and processed them, one at a time. That was relatively easy to do, especially after the two days of training handling bats in captivity that we had at the start of the job. The whole experience was fantastic... and time flew by. We ended up catching one more that night, for a total of four (all Big Browns... Eptesicus fuscus). I was giddy the entire time. Couldn't stop smiling. :)

me with my first bat!

close-up of my first bat :)

one of the other big browns we caught

 I am now fairly confident in my initial assessment that this summer is going to be fantastic. :) I absolutely LOVE working with bats, both handling and doing the acoustic surveys. My coworkers are awesome, the refuge is beautiful, and hopefully as time goes on we will have success catching more of the Myotis species, like little browns, Indiana bats, northern long-eared, etc. 

Ya'll can expect more posts fairly regularly throughout the summer I think. I am going to be way too excited to keep it all to myself. :)