Going Batty Bat Detecting: Florida Master Naturalist Final Project (Uplands 2018)

The UF/IFAS Extension St Lucie County Florida Master Naturalist Uplands course is an examination of plants, animals and human interactions in upland systems. Two teams in the Jan-Feb 2018 Uplands course are studying bats as part of their final projects. One team is surveying bats in local bridges. They are collecting video clips and sampling guano for N-P-K nutrient analysis. Another group is conducting wildlife monitoring focusing on mammals at the Extension office in Fort Pierce.

Bat detecting involves the use of devices to transmute bat echolocation to sounds audible to people. These sounds resemble clicks and chirps. Occasionally bats make noises resembling “raspberries.” These raspberries are likely being used by bats to find prey to eat while in flight at night. At the UF/IFAS Extension St Lucie County, we use Pattersson bat detectors for our field work.

Pettersson Bat Detector
Pettersson bat detector photo by Susan Collins, Florida Master Naturalist

Florida Master Naturalist Susan Collins recorded video of her experience bat detecting at the UF/IFAS Extension St Lucie County on 1/23/18 using a Pattersson bat detector. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlRfEb_VrAM&sns=em

Susan Collins shared her thoughts about the bat detecting experience

A fact sheet describing echolocation call characteristics of eastern US bats is online http://www.sonobat.com/download/EasternUS_Acoustic_Table_Mar2011.pdf
UF/IFAS EDIS fact sheets are available with additional information about bats. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/topic_bats
Contributing co-author: Susan Collins, Florida Master Naturalist

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Posted: January 25, 2018


Category: NATURAL RESOURCES, Wildlife
Tags: #bats, #echolocation, #wildlife


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