I left for cape breton on monday.
This is the study site:
There is an old coal mine entrance by the sea, and it extends back into the forest where there are open pits where people dug to steal coal and some of them are just parts of the mine that have collapsed. The pits need to be closed in for safety reasons, but when they started this in the winter, bats started to fly out. We went here to sample and see if bats are swarming here.
a gull pellet I'm assuming - there are lots of crab bits in there!
snails giving piggy-back rides<3
the city of sydney, cape breton. beyond this, not much to see in the city.
deploying equipment to record bat calls. shortly after, I threw the microphone over the cliff to get it close to the mine opening. very fun!
setting up mist nets to catch bats!
red bat, never before recorded on cape breton island! we caught one our first night, along with 3 northern long-earred bats. both sexes of the red bat are solitary, and the females can give birth to 3 or 4 young! she roosts with her young until they are weaned.
on our second night, we caught another red bat!
this is a male, which have very red hair; females have chestnut coloured hair. during the day, they hang from a branch by one foot (or from mom by one foot), turning in the wind, looking like a leaf or pinecone!
colouration on the wings is quite remarkable!
trying to bite me while handling, and he had a good bite!
after catching the first red bat, our prof said sarcastically "now go catch a hoary!" and there were laughs... but then we actually caught one!
they have never been recorded on cape breton island, and they are the largest bat species in canada!
both the hoary and red bat are long distance migrators, and are on their way south soon. both can curl their fuzzy tail over themselves as a blanket on chilly nights.
just taking a bite, but I was so stoked that it was okay.
both the hoary and red bat made horrible hissing sounds while we handled them - it was pretty terrifying, something expected in a horror film. but they were fuzzy and cute, so it was okay.
summary: in one night we caught 4 species of bats: little brown, northern long-earred, red bat and a hoary bat! what an amazing night!
we took a different way home, heading over seal island bridge:
off to the right down a dirt road is a beautiful waterfall:
on our way back to the highway we found a squirrel who had been hit by a car and was flopping around on the road. we took him with us back to halifax and brought him to hope for wildlife... hopefully he does alright.
jake was very excited when I got back. I'll be in town until the 29th - and then off to ontario...
my schedule is not very nice:(
aug 29th - leave hfx at 12noon
aug 30th - arrive in toronto at 4pm; couchsurf two nights
aug 31st - fullblast show
sept 1st - bus to guelph, hangout in guelph with cassie, fullblast/moneen show
sept 2nd - bus at 7:45am to toronto, bus at 11:30 to montreal; arrive in montreal at 5:30pm, hang at lindsay's for a night
sept 3rd - 6:30pm train to hfx.
sept 4th - arrive in hfx at 5pm, start school next morning.
but I still think it's worth it, I'm really excited. just wish I could bring jake along, but I have a friend who's going to watch him instead.
talking to folks and setting up a display on sunday at the hope for wildlife open house, come talk to me about bats!
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