The Izaak Walton Porter County Chapter Bat Team welcomes Jen Woronecki-Ellis. She joins us as an intern and she has been batty for bats for decades! You may have met her at our table during the Indiana Humane Bat Awareness Night. You'll have the chance to say hello to her again at PCC's bat table during the upcoming Owl Fest on Oct 23 at the Valpo Expo Center.

Jen is digging into our 2020 bat monitoring data to find trends and shifts in NWI's bat populations. Once the 2021 season is concluded, she'll be comparing the two. We are looking forward to her findings.
WELCOME ABOARD JEN!

Porter County Chapter will be listening for bats with mobile monitors during their RAISE THE ROOF-Prairie Picnic on October 16, 2021, 4pm at PCC's Frame Conservation Area.

Picnic Tickets: $15/adult, $7/children (1st grade or younger free)

Click here to get your tickets in advance.

Growth in wind energy in North America may endanger the Hoary Bat if conservation measures are not put in place.

by Bat Conservation International
AUSTIN, TX (Sept. 15, 2021) – North America’s Hoary Bats (Lasiurus cinereus) could face rapid decline unless urgent conservation action is taken to reduce bat fatalities at wind farms in the U.S. and Canada, according to a new scientific report co-authored by Bat Conservation International’s Chief Scientist published in the journal Biological Conservation.

“Without intervention to reduce fatalities, Hoary Bats could decline by a staggering 50% by the year 2028,” says Dr. Winifred Frick, Chief Scientist for Bat Conservation International.

This report was driven by observations of bat fatalities at wind farms and mounting concerns

about how those fatalities may endanger bat populations. The study sought to determine the

risk to Hoary Bats of continued wind energy expansion and how industry solutions may help.

The U.S. Department of Energy predicts that wind energy will nearly double by 2030.

"If conservation actions are implemented broadly and rapidly, the risks of further decline and extinction may be avoided,” says Frick. “The good news is we already know how to reduce bat fatalities. What this study emphasizes is just how quickly we need to implement those solutions before it is too late. Hoary bats are found almost everywhere across the U.S. and Canada, so our findings have implications for wind projects across the continent.” The wind industry has been a strong partner in research efforts to identify ways to reduce bat fatalities to find win-win solutions for renewable energy and protecting biodiversity. Bat Conservation International works with the wind energy industry to determine how to reduce bat fatalities at turbines as part of clean energy solutions. One of the most promising and proven solutions in protecting bats is turbine “curtailment,” which slows down or stops turbine blades from spinning when conditions are such that colliding with a bat is likely. The best available evidence to date suggests that curtailment below five meters per second could reduce Hoary Bat fatalities by nearly half.

“Our results show that actions like turbine curtailment or other strategies that can reduce Hoary Bat fatalities can be an effective alternative to limiting growth of wind energy development,” says Dr. Nick Friedenberg, lead author of the study. The report’s publication comes at a time when Hoary Bats begin long-distance seasonal migrations to warmer climates and are particularly vulnerable to colliding with the rotating blades of wind turbines. Why Hoary Bats seem particularly vulnerable remains an area of active investigation.

“We recognize wind energy as a critical part of the fight against climate change,” says Dr. Frick. “By working collaboratively with industry partners, we can have sustainable wind energy while protecting biodiversity.”

Bats in North America provide vital ecosystem services such as insect pest consumption. The economic value of bats to U.S. agricultural industry has been estimated in the billions annually.

About Bat Conservation International:

Founded in 1982, Bat Conservation International is a global conservation organization dedicated to ending bat extinctions. Bat Conservation International works worldwide to conserve caves, restore critical habitats in danger, and ensure the survival of the world’s bat species. For more information, visit batcon.org.

By Joe Whitfield

In Indiana, we have 13 types of bats; around here we have four known bats. These are the Little Brown Myotis, Indiana Myotis, Big Brown Bat and the Red Bat.

There is a good chance that somewhere around here we could also have the Hoary Bat, Northern Myotis, Evening Bat, Eastern Pipistelle and the Silver-haired Bat.

Within Indiana, we also have the Eastern Small-footed Myotis, Rafomesqie’s Big-Eared Bat, Gray Myotis and the Southeastern Myotis.

Let’s take a quick look at the four bats known to be in our area.

Indiana Myotis (Myotis sodalist): These are a dark pinkish brown and are sometimes confused with the Little Brown Bat. You can tell them apart by the feet and the hairs on the toes. The first one to be identified was found in 1928 in Wyandotte Cave.

As with most bats, the females and young form maternity colonies but do so under loose bark and may have more than one site for this. This bat has been on the endangered species list since 1967. One of the reasons for this is that they form huge masses in very few caves. Populations have been reported as high as 125,000 in a single cave.

Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus): A brownish small bat measuring 2.5 to 4 inches long, weighing perhaps .5 ounces with a wing span of up to 11 inches. Their preferred roaming area is near swamplands, and they can eat up to half their body weight per night in insects. They have been known to get insects off animals, leading people to believe they are attacking the animal.

Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus): These weigh in at just less than 1 ounce, 4 to 5 inches long with a 12-inch wingspan. These bats are the most common, living in cities, towns and rural areas. They live in buildings, hollow trees and caves. They can live up to 19 years. They prefer beetles and eat until full, then hang upside down to digest the food. Females give birth in the spring to two bats.

Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis): These bats are a bright red to a rusty color. They get 3 to 4 inches long weigh less than .5 ounces. These are tree bats; they tend to roost individually in clumps of leaves or on branches. Some of these will migrate south. During a cold snap, they are known to crawl under leaf litter and wrap their tails around them to keep warm. The female produces three to four young bats, which is a large number for the species. A few may stay over winter in Indiana, but there is a large migration in spring and fall.