Going Batty

International Bat Week, a global celebration of the world's most misunderstood mammal, fittingly comes to a close tomorrow on Halloween. To celebrate, let's take a trip down memory lane to that time five years ago when I helped with a bat colony count. It was late summer in 2017. I was just a few weeks away from leaving the Northwest and returning to my native Pennsylvania. I was invited to a pot luck for volunteers at Northwest Trek, a wildlife park in Eatonville, WA. I'd worked with them doing amphibian egg mass surveys for the state and nature mapping for Nisqually Land Trust. There was also a bat colony count happening that night, and I was asked if I would like to join. Of course I said yes. After white nose syndrome was detected in Washington, the state fish and wildlife service wanted to colony counts to establish a baseline population for monitoring purposes. Having worked on other conservation projects with Northwest Trek it was only natural that they would ask them to partner up again. And it was a no-brainer for me to get in on the action. After eating, we took an extended afterhours tram ride through the free roaming area to see the deer, elk, bison, moose, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep who don't know they're lving in captivity. There's nothing wrong with a little extra time hanging out with our animal friends. Afterwards, we returned to the park entrance. I was supposed to monitor the comings and goings at a bat box inside the park just inside the entrance. All I had to do was count how bats flew out and how many flew in, until I couldn't see anymore. Ins and outs, then subtract and the difference is my count. Very simple. But the bats had other plans for the night. Before we even got inside we could hear bats moving around inside the roof of the entrance. I never made it in. Instead, I stood outside the entrance counting bats. I watched as a little bat would drop down from the roof and gain altitude as it moved towards me. I only ducked once or twice. It was just instinct. I knew they wouldn't hit me. I figured with their echolocation they could tell where I was long before I saw them. I could hear theirs wings flapping and feel the breeze as they zipped past my head. At the end of the night, all the participants gathered to turn in their tally sheets. The counting station at the entrance, which wasn't on the list at the beginning, and was almost an afterthought, turned out to have the highest count of the night. I don't remember how many bats we counted collectively, or what my total was. It was a great night and I hope we collected important data. I'm forever thankful I was able to be a part of it.

Cave Life

This week is Cave Week, so to celebrate we're going spelunking to see what critters we can find. In addition to all sorts of whimsical formations, caves host a surprising amount of life. There are trogolobites, which live full time in caves; trogolophiles, which live in a cave but can also survive outside; and trogoloxenes, the part time cave denizens. You can encounter insects, fish, birds, mammals, plants, fungi, and others. Because there is very little natural light, many of these species are adapted to live in darkness; some don't even have eyes.

Whimsical cave formations

The first cave critter that comes to mind is a bat. Many bats roost in caves because they are cool and dark during the day, making it easier to sleep. Caves make a great place to hibernate over the winter. A constant temperature that is above freezing is an obvious plus, but it's cool enough to trigger the hibernation process. Other cave mammals include bears and jumping mice.

To the bat cave! (National Science Foundation)

Plants are a rare find in  caves because they need sunlight for photosynthesis. I saw ferns growing in a cave under a ceiling hole that opened to the surface. Much more common are fungi, which thrive in dark, damp conditions. Most important among them is Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which causes White Nose Syndrome in bats. It is devastating bat colonies across the US and Canada, and enjoys the cool temperatures while the bats hibernate.

White Nose Syndrome affecting these bats (NPS)

Cave fish are interesting little critters. Nearly all lack eyes and skin pigment. With no light to see by, there is no need to camouflage or stand out, so they are likely to be white or light colored. Unable to see their food, they find it by sensing movement in the water. What exactly do they eat? Since plants, the base of the food chain can't really live in a cave, anything in there either needs to go outside for good or eat whatever gets brought in. Cave fish eat detritus that washes in during rain events. Other critters get by on dung, the leaving of larger animals that way out.

Blind cave fish (NPS, Rick Olsen)

Cave Week runs through this weekend. Find a cave near you and check it out. Spelunk safely. Use the buddy system, carry at least three light sources, and make sure someone knows where you are going. Don't disturb any wildlife and make sure clothing and equipment are thoroughly cleaned before entering another cave. This helps prevent the spread of White Nose Syndrome.
This week's information comes from the National Park Service and National Geographic.

Species of the Month

Halloween is right around the corner, so it’s time for another creepy crawly species of the month. We’ve covered bats and owls, so this year we’ll go to the spiders. Stop reading here if they creep you and come back next week. Grass spiders are a genus of several funnel weaving spiders, including the Pennsylvania grass spider. You’ll likely start noticing these robust spiders in your house as they venture inside to avoid the falling outdoor temperatures. We associate spiders with Halloween because they are at their biggest after growing all year.

Pennsylvania grass spider at my sister's house

Scientific name: Agelenopsis species

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Arachnida (arachnids)

Order: Araneae (spiders)

Range: All of North America except Arctic areas

Habitat: Lawns, your house during fall

Grass spider in its natural habitat (Penn State)

Lifespan: One year

Diet: Insects

Predators: Birds

Conservation Status: No special protection

Grass spider in its web (Missouri Department of Conservation)

Other Information: Grass spiders build funnel or tunnel shaped webs in the grass, hence the name. Females lay eggs in sacs during late summer or early fall, with eggs hatching in spring. The eggs survive over the winter but adult spiders do not. Grass spiders are fast and typically avoid humans, but will occasionally bite with trapped and threatened. Information this week comes from Insect Identification, despite spiders not being an insect.

Superfund Site

While I was working toward my environmental science one of my classes was Environmental Law and Policy. For one of our assignments we had to research a Superfund site and present to the class. The site I chose was less than a mile as the crow flies from where I grew up. At that time, EPA hadn’t begun work on the site. Last year after moving back to Pennsylvania, I attended an EPA meeting on the status of the cleanup. This year, as work nears completion, I was able to tour the site with EPA’s Tim Gallagher.

Contrary to what you might think, not all Superfund sites are full of leaking drums of glowing green radioactive waste. The Watson-Johnson property was a landfill from the 50s to the 70s, then forgotten about. In the late 90s, water testing revealed several contaminants in the groundwater. One of the town wells for the water supply was closed. The solution the EPA came up with was to cap the landfill and use chemical injection to neutralize the contaminants in the groundwater.

Watson Johnson landfill site. The geosynthetic is
buried under 18 inches of soil here.

Capping the landfill is a common practice at sites like this. Why not remove the waste? Odds are, everything would just be taken out of the ground and buried in another landfill somewhere else. One oozing container was discovered and removed from the site, but otherwise it was all collected together and capped. The cap uses a layer of compacted clay soil, a waterproof synthetic fabric, more soil, and vegetation. The purpose of the cap is to keep the waste contained and keep water out, preventing anything from seeping into the groundwater.  Water drains to wetlands, ponds, and level spreaders. Level spreaders are cement cisterns that capture water and allow it to overflow and slowly spread away from the site.

Drainage swale around the outside of the capped landfill.
Grass seed has already been spread inside it.

Level spreader beyond the edge of the capped landfill

The soil above and around the cap is contoured to divert surface water away from the cap. There are natural wetlands on site, as well as new artificial wetlands created to contain and disperse runoff. The cap itself layered in a way that creates pathways for gases flow towards several vents. Because they site was once open but now is closed with those release points, concentrations are higher. Methane has been noted at the vents, but not volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Gas vent. No monitors are attached.

Monitoring and injection wells reach the groundwater. Sodium permanganate is injected to react with the chemicals in the water. The reaction breaks down the chemicals (including the sodium permanganate) into harmless elements like oxygen and hydrogen. Monitoring wells are set up to test the levels of chemicals in the water. Injections will stop once the concentration goes below 100 parts per billion. At that point, EPA will begin bioremediation. Microscopic critters that eat the contaminants will be injected to the groundwater to bring the contaminants down even further.

Work on the site is nearing completion. Despite a cold winter and rainy summer, work is only two months behind schedule. Workers are currently adding a layer of topsoil six inches deep on top of the cover soil. Once topsoil is in place, it will be seeded with native grasses. Around the cap, workers are setting up deer fence to protect new trees that will be going in. Landscaping was supposed to start last week but was delayed by heavy rain.

EPA will continue to monitor the site for a year after completion, before turning that duty over to the state. Future plans include nesting boxes for swallows and bats. The new trees will create a nice matrix with the older existing woods on the edge of the site, which should attract songbirds that prefer new growth. The site is privately owned, so it will not become a park like old landfills in other areas. However, development will be limited by cap so it will likely remain a nice green oasis as the area becomes increasingly more urbanized.

For more information visit the EPA's Watson Johnson website. Special thanks to Tim Gallagher for taking time out of his day to show me around.

What Otter Is This?

Otters are terribly cute little critters. There are several species worldwide, but in North America we have the river otter and the sea otter. Other than one living in a river and one living in the sea, what are the differences? If you should happen to see an otter near the coast, how do you know which one it is?

It might seem silly to not know what otter you are looking at, but coastal river otters will swim into the ocean. Now that you can’t always rely on the type of water to tell the otters apart, what do you do?

You probably won’t have the two otters side by side for a comparison, but the sea otter is much larger, twice or even three times the size of the river otter. The sea otter’s tail is shorter and flatter, while the river otter’s tail is about half the length of its body. River otters have a more rounded nose than sea otters, and the river otter’s nose farther above the mouth. The sea otter’s nose is slightly pointed at the top and the bottom comes to the mouth much like a cat’s. The sea otter has very dense fur, which is why they were hunted to near extinction. The river otter has a course fur and a layer of fat.

Sea otters at sea (Marine Mammal Commission)

River otter swimming

Movement is a good indicator of which otter you’re looking at. Sea otters swim almost exclusively on their backs, using their bellies as a dinner table. River otters swim on their bellies (riding very low in the water) and usually eat on land. On land, river otters move quite well, running with an arched back or sliding downhill on snow. Sea otters rarely come ashore, and when they do, they are clumsy critters that waddle more than they walk.

Sea otter ashore (Oregon Zoo)

River otter on land (Smithsonian National Zoo)

Hopefully you will be lucky enough to find yourself in a position that you see an otter and wonder what kind it is. Sea otters live exclusively on the West Coast and are a threatened species so you will be lucky indeed to find one. River otters have suffered in the past due to hunting and trapping pressures just as their seafaring cousins, but have had a more successful recovery thus far and enjoy no special federal protection.

So you’re far more likely to see a river otter based on population and range. Still, seeing a river otter is a special event. I’ve come across them in the wild twice, and both times it was an unexpected delight. The first otter was in my pond while I was surveying amphibian egg masses. The second was in Capitol Lake in Olympia, WA where I was joining a group for an evening bat program. Check your local waterways; you may be in for a pleasant surprise too!

This week's otter information comes from the Seattle Aquarium. Don't forget to follow Nature Minute on Facebook!

Winter Adaptations

As I deal with a pair of winter storms over the course of writing this blog, I am sitting cozy and warm inside my house. How do animals, who don’t live in houses with central heating or furnaces make it through the winter? Some migrate to warmer areas, but those that stay behind have special adaptations that help them cope with the cold and snowy weather.

Many animals go into mega energy conservation mode during the winter because not only do they lack heating systems for their homes, they also lack supermarkets that carry a reliable food source. For herbivores, their plant-based food supply is either dormant (and not producing the nutritious shoots they crave), or buried under snow and ice. Whether warm-blooded or cold-blooded, both need to keep warm to survive. Cold-blooded critters rely on the sun’s radiant heat to stay warm, and this is a challenge when it’s cold outside and the sun isn’t reliable. Warm-blooded critters metabolize food to stay warm- they eat much more than cold-blooded ones. One option to keep up metabolism is to spend energy to search for scarce food. But there are other ways to get by.

Hibernation is probably the first coping mechanism you think of, and it’s quite common in the mammal world. Bears do it, bats do it. What is it, compared to normal sleep? When you go to sleep your body slows down. Breathing and heart rate go down and metabolism slows, and your body temperature cools a bit. Hibernation is an extreme version of this. But to be asleep for weeks or months on end requires quite a bit of sustaining energy, even if bodily functions slow to the point of nearly stopping. That’s why bears go on a feed frenzy each fall, gorging themselves on spawning salmon or high-energy moths if they live in the right place.

NPS graphic of a hibernating bear

For those that don’t hibernate, finding food is a priority. Arctic foxes and snowshoe hares both grow a white coat for snow camouflage. The fox uses its camo to hunt; the hare uses its to avoid being eaten. The bison uses its large head as a snowplow to uncover buried vegetation. Ever wonder what that large hump at its shoulder is? Extra muscles to support all that head.

Snowshoe hare (Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks)

Bison plowing for food (NPS)

Preserving body heat is a great way to maximize caloric efficiency. The thick fur coat of a muskox traps body heat. Blubber insulates whales, seals, and walruses. Polar bears have black skin that absorbs heat, and their fur traps heat, including body heat that they radiate.

Walruses (US Fish and Wildlife Service)

Ease of mobility is also an efficiency adaptation. Lynxes and caribou both have large feet that act as snowshoes, making it easier to get around so they burn fewer calories doing so.

Check out the foot on that lynx! (Natural Resources Research Institute)

These are just a few of the many adaptations that make survival possible for warm-blooded mammals. There are others, and there are also adaptations for cold-blooded animals (like a frog with antifreeze in its blood) and plants too! Enjoy your heater for the rest of the winter! 

Bats and White Nose Syndrome

Bats are a misunderstood and unreasonably feared critter. Some species rid our skies of pest insects, while others pollinate crops and other plants. Bat poop (guano) is a rich fertilizer. Attitudes are changing as people begin to appreciate the ecosystem services bats provide but now they face another threat, White Nose Syndrome.

White Nose Syndrome (WNS) is a fungal infection that is destroying bat colonies at an unprecedented rate. The fungus Pseudogymnoscus destructans was likely introduced from Europe inadvertently. It thrives in the cold strikes bats when they are hibernating. Bats hibernate to conserve energy when their food source (insects or fruit) is unavailable, but the infection causes them to wake from hibernation. Being awake increases metabolism and other bodily functions, and the bats starve to death because of burning through whatever energy they had stored to make it through the winter. To answer your next question, “How does being awake kill a bat?”, most of the calories you need in a day are just to keep you alive- breathing, circulation, and the biggest energy consumer- temperature regulation.

WNS spreads from direct contact with an infected bat or from surface contamination inside a bat cave. People can transport the fungus from cave to cave, so spelunkers must decontaminate clothing, shoes, and equipment in between caves. 

Bats infected with WNS (National Park Service photo)

WNS has killed millions of bats in the eastern parts of the US and Canada is spreading west. Last year the first case was discovered here in Washington. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife conducted a bat count a few weeks ago at Northwest Trek as the beginning of an effort to monitor bat colonies and WNS. A follow-up count took place this past weekend and I took part.

The goal is to count the number of bats seen leaving and entering the nest. Exits minus entries is the total number of bats seen. The tricky part is seeing them as it gets darker. I did OK with this until about 9:20. The freaky part is not seeing the bats until they are inches from your face, then they turn away at the last second, mostly to my left. I could their wings flapping as they passed by my head.

By establishing a baseline this year the state hopes to track population trends that could indicate colonies in trouble. This can be tricky, though. Bats sometimes tend to not roost in the same location night after night. For example, the site I counted was unmonitored in the previous count. The only reason I was posted there was because on the way into Northwest Trek we heard the bats making sounds inside the park entryway. My total for the night was around 60 bats. Other sites inside the park had a lower count than during the previous survey. It is possible that my site had an increase since the last survey, but that is unknown since no one counted there the first time. 

Me counting bats

In just six years since its introduction, WNS had killed millions of bats with a mortality rate up to 100% in some colonies, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Fighting back will be a long process, but the key first step is monitoring. I am glad I had a chance to take part in the beginning of what I hope will be a successful fight. WNS info this week comes from the National Park Service, one of many partners in the search for a cure.

NPS: https://www.nps.gov/articles/what-is-white-nose-syndrome.htm

USFWS: http://www.batcon.org/pdfs/USFWS_WNS_Mortality_2012_NR_FINAL.pdf

Summertime and the Living's Easy

Summer is officially here, at least astronomically. Today marks the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, while our friends south of the Equator are settling in for a long, dark winter. What exactly is the solstice?

Summer solstice is the point at which the pole of the hemisphere in question most directly faces the sun. It’s the longest period of sunlight in a single day and the sun reaches its highest point in the sky. At the pole, it is 24 hours of daylight. The length of daylight decreases with distance from the pole, culminating in 24 hours of darkness at the opposite pole. 

Solstice occurs at 4:24 AM Universal Time (time in Greenwich, England on the Prime Meridian) on June 21st. Sunset at my location is 9:07 while solstice is at 9:24, which is on the 20^th here. I won’t even see the sun when I am facing it most directly.

Interestingly, we associate summer with long days, but by the time summer actually arrives the days start getting shorter. And even though solstice is when we receive the most sunlight, it takes about a month before peak temperatures arrive. This is because the oceans affect heat absorption and distribution. For the same reason, peak coldness is usually a month of more after winter solstice. Of course, there may be exceptions but that is generally the norm at my latitude.

On an unrelated topic, this week is National Pollinator Week. Bats, insects (notably the bee), and the wind are pollinators you encounter on a daily basis. Go outside and hug a pollinator! Just not a bee.

Solstice diagram: http://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-summer-summer-solstice

Vanishing Prairies, Part 2

Today’s prairies are home to a dazzling array of wildflowers, as well as birds, butterflies, and mammals. Endangered prairie species, besides the golden paintbrush, are the Mazama pocket gopher, streaked horned lark, and Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly. They all depend on the prairie plants. Some critters that I’ve seen at the prairies include the osprey, northern harrier, and Puget blue butterfly. Bats and owls are also common, but I haven't seen them because I haven't gone there at night.

Golden paintbrush

Mazama pocket gopher (from US Fish and Wildlife Service)

Puget blue butterfly

The gopher is endangered because it eats the plants that inhabit the prairie. No prairie, no plants, no gopher. The butterflies use the prairie plants as host plants for their caterpillars. No prairie, not plants, no butterflies. Streaked horned larks nest on bare ground. In western Washington, pretty much anything that is not forested is either oceanfront or developed, with the exception of the prairies (US Fish and Wildlife Service).

Northern harrier (from New York Department of Environmental Conservation)

Streaked horned lark (from US Fish and Wildlife Service)

Taylor's checkerspot butterfly (from US Fish and Wildlife Service)

How did a region known for its forests wind up with this little-known prairie? The geology is fascinating and mystifying all at once. The prairies formed on glacial outwash, but the origins of the mounds remains a mystery to this day. The soil around them is dry and gravelly. The mounds, however, are made of black sandy loam mixed with gravel. There are several theories as to how they formed.

Mounded prairie

Cross section of a mound (from Washington Landscape blog)

One theory is that the mound soils collected on top of glaciers in pits, then settled as mounds after the glaciers melted. Another is that they are wave peaks caused by soil that liquefied during earthquakes. Another theory is that following floods caused by a glacially dammed lake, sediment deposits collected when water flowed around vegetation, forming the mounds. There is a theory that the mounds were formed by erosion. My favorite theory is that pocket gophers built the mounds (Washington Department of Natural Resources). A lot of very industrious pocket gophers.

There are some prairies that are open to public access for hiking and wildlife viewing. Glacial Heritage Natural Area, where I took last week’s pictures, I owned by Thurston County and open only on Prairie Appreciation Day in May. Others owned by the State of Washington, such as Mima Mounds Natural Area and Scatter Creek Wildlife Area (also in Thurston County) are open year-round.

This week's references:

US Fish and Wildlife Service: https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=B0B3

Washington Department of Natural Resources:  http://file.dnr.wa.gov/publications/amp_mima_mounds_mistery.pdf

Gopher: https://www.fws.gov/wafwo/articles.cfm?id=149489588

Harrier: http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7090.html

Horned lark: https://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/articles.cfm?id=149489450

Checkerspot: https://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/articles.cfm?id=149489449

Mound cross section: https://washingtonlandscape.blogspot.com/2012/05/mima-mound-cross-sections.html

Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring

So far this season, I've been out to the pond five times with my partner Roger. We have found mostly Northwestern salamander eggs, solid heavy balls of jelly. There were a few long-toed salamander eggs out first time out. The second time out it snowed the whole time. Standing in a pond, surrounded by falling snow, is a very odd sensation. Unlike rain, snow falling on a pond leaves no ripples. Visibility was not diminished at all, unlike yesterday's survey. We had to quit early because of rain. To someone who has never looked into a pond the way I do, rain might not matter. But those ripples by the hundred make a continuous succession of tiny waves that make it impossible to see through the surface. Yesterday also marked the first time we heard the Pacific tree frogs chorusing around us. It was only a few, but it almost felt like I was surrounded. The real chorus started at night. I had to take a walk, and went past a different pond. It was abuzz with tiny frogs, all calling for mates. I decided to shine my flashlight in there to see if I could see any of them. One of them heard my footsteps and thought I might be a threat. It stopped calling. Withing seconds, the pond was silent. That is a defense mechanism you my have encountered. If you've ever heard a frog and tried to find it you know they stop croaking when you get too close. In a sea of green, you can't find that little green frog without following your ears. So it is with predators. I read about this reaction in Merlin Tuttle's "The Secret Life of Bats", in a chapter about frog-eating bats. It was my first time experiencing an entire pond going silent in unison.

Nature Minute Book Club

It’s January. The most wonderful time of the year is behind us and we have nothing to look forward to but cold and dark for the next few months. Here in the Northwest it’s colder and snowier than usual, which is good news for the mountain snowpack. Mountain trails are closed and the cold, rain, and snow make for miserable hiking conditions. Since we’ve no place to go, grab a book from the Nature Minute book shelf and cozy with some of these titles.

“A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold

Leopold was a Nature Guy like me, working for the US Forest Service where he germinated the idea for roadless and wilderness areas which culminated in the Wilderness Act of 1964. His “Sand County Almanac” is a poetic observation of the natural world through changing seasons plus arguments in favor conservation, responsible land use, and the role of ethics in ecology. It’s an easy read and might inspire you to go outside and do some journaling of your own.

Multiple titles by Rachel Carson

Carson began her writing career working on publications for the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a biologist, at a time when few women worked in science. Her earliest books, including “Under the Sea-Wind” and “The Sea Around Us” established her reputation as a talented writer who could translate scientific studies into the language of the lay person. Her controversial “Silent Spring”, warning of the dangers of the overuse of pesticides and other chemicals and written as she was dying of cancer, helped ignite the environmental movement of the 1970s.

“Crow Planet” by Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Seattle-based urban ecologist Haupt gives us a glimpse into the world of an otherwise overlooked piece of our landscape, the common crow. The American crow, an incredibly intelligent bird, is so conspicuous as to escape our attention but Haupt manages to transform this bird from a nuisance to fascinating subject.

“Wesley the Owl” by Stacey O’Brien

Wesley is an owl who breaks all the rules of what researchers thought it meant to be an owl. Born with a defective wing that prevented him from being able to survive in the wild, Wesley went to live with researcher O’Brien. The two spent nearly a decade together, teaching each other about life and love.

“The Secret Life of Bats” by Melvin Tuttle

Who likes bats? Tuttle does, and after reading this book you will too. A career of researching one the most misunderstood critters on the planet has led to a remarkable conservation success story. Discover how one conversation can save not just a species, but an entire order of mammals.

Eek-cology of Halloween

Halloween is almost here! This was my favorite holiday when I was a kid. Now that I’m too old to go out getting candy from strangers, I stay home and give candy to strangers. This year, I will give you a quick look at the eek-cology of Halloween, some of the wild animals we connect with the holiday. Facts are courtesy of the pages of http://www.halloween.com/all-about-halloween/

Bats: Hungry for insects, bats were often seen chasing those that were drawn to the bonfires of the early Samhain celebration. They were believed to be connected to the spirit world. Bats are also associated with vampires.

Bat in flight

Spiders: Spiders just creep people out. That could be the number one reason they are associated with Halloween. Haunted houses of lore, which are typically abandoned, are full of spider webs. In medieval times, they were associated with witches. I think another likely reason they are a Halloween symbols is that it’s almost impossible to go outside this time of year without walking into a web.

Orb weaver

Owls: Owls were also spotted near the Samhain bonfires and were believed to be connected to the spirit world. They are associated with witches. In the dark of night, the owl’s cry can be an eerie sound.

Great horned owl

Wolves: Wolves are an animal that has long been feared. Adding to that fear is the legend of werewolves, cursed people who change into wolves by the light of the full moon. 

Tundra wolf at Northwest Trek, Eatonville, WA

Have fun and stay safe!

Species of the Month- Little Brown Bat

This week at Nature Minute we start a new segment, Species of the Month. To gear up for Halloween this month we celebrate the little brown bat, one of the most frequently encountered wild animals. Facts are courtesy of University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web.

Scientific name: Myotis lucifugus

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Mammalia (mammals)

Order: Chiroptera (bats)

Range: Southern Alaska to southern US, Mexican highlands

Habitat: Day roosts- buildings, trees, under rocks, wood piles; night roosts- large spaces that can accommodate many bats; hibernaculum roosts: caves or mines that remain above freezing all winter

Lifespan: 6-7 years

Diet: Insects- midges, beetles, caddisflies, moths, mayflies, lacewings, mosquitoes

Predators: Cats, mice, owls, fishers, martens, raccoons, hawks, owls, weasels, snakes

Conservation Status: No special protection

Other Information: Like other insectivorous bats, the little brown bat uses echolocation to find its prey. The bat’s wing is the same bones as the human hand, with a flap of skin stretched over the elongated fingers. A fungal disease known as white nose syndrome is threatening many species of bats all across the US and Canada. It is believed to have been accidentally transported from Europe as spores hitchhiking on a caver’s clothing. National Bat Week is October 24-31.

Little brown bat in flight

Little brown bat in flight

Little brown bat taking a break on front porch