Bat Monitoring and Habitat Restoration
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BAT MONITORING AND HABITAT PROJECT
BACKGROUND:
NORTHWEST INDIANA IS A SURPRISINGLY UNIQUE LANDSCAPE. LAND-USE RANGES FROM NEARLY IMPERVIOUS CITY SCAPE TO MIXED RURAL/URBAN AREAS TO AGRICULTURAL MONOCROPS. INTERMINGLED WITHIN THIS HUMAN DOMINATED COMPLEX ARE PATCHES OF NATURAL HABITAT MANAGED BY VARIOUS LANDOWNERS. DESPITE THE ABUNDANT MODIFICATIONS TO THE LANDSCAPE, HABITAT DIVERSITY CONTINUES TO BE HIGH IN THE REGION DUE TO ITS LOCATION AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE EASTERN FOREST, WESTERN GREAT PRAIRIE, INTERSECTION OF NORTHERN BOREAL FOREST, AND GLACIAL MORAINES WITH SOUTHERN BIG RIVERS FLOODPLAINS. HABITATS CONSISTS OF SAND DUNES TO PRAIRIE AND OAK SAVANNA TO EASTERN MAPLE DOMINATED FOREST TO LOWLAND HARDWOOD SWAMPS.
THIS DIVERSE MATRIX OF HABITAT IS A SUMMER HOME TO THE ENDANGERED INDIANA BAT (MYOTIS SODALIS) AND RECENTLY LISTED NORTHERN LONG-EARED BAT (MYOTIS SEPTENTRIONALIS) AS WELL AS STATE ENDANGERED EVENING BAT (NYCTICEIUS HUMERALIS) AND STATE SPECIES OF CONCERN INCLUDING THE LITTLE BROWN BAT (MYOTIS LUCIFUGUS), TRI-COLORED BAT (PERIMYOTIS SUBFLAVUS; FORMERLY EASTERN PIPISTRELLE), EASTERN RED BAT (LASIURUS BOREALIS), HOARY BAT (LASIUSUS CINEREUS), AND SILVER-HAIRED BAT (LASIONYCTERIS NOCTIVAGANS) (HTTPS://WWW.IN.GOV/DNR/FISHWILD/8450.HTM). A SINGLE EVENING OF SURVEYING ON THE IWLA_PCC FRAME FAMILY FARM PROPERTY IN AUGUST OF 2018 YIELDED 9 BAT SPECIES!!
PROJECT GOALS:
THE NWI BAT PROJECT SEEKS TO:
1) UNDERSTAND THE USE BY BATS AND VALUE OF CONSERVATION LANDS FOR BATS IN OUR HIGHLY URBANIZED LANDSCAPE MATRIX IN ORDER TO INFORM LAND-USE PLANNING
2) MONITOR BAT POPULATIONS IN TIME AS WIND ENERGY DEVELOPMENT EXPANDS BETWEEN SUMMER ROOSTS IN NW INDIANA AND WINTERING HABITAT TO THE SOUTH
3) MONITOR CHANGES IN BAT USE FROM HABITAT IMPROVEMENTS AT THE LOCAL SCALE;
4) PROVIDE USEABLE DATA FOR RESEARCH AND SPECIES PROTECTIONS.
METHODS:
MONITORING DATA COLLECTION:
POINT DATA WILL BE COLLECTED WITH WILDLIFE ACOUSTICS SONG METER SM4BAT AND SMM-U2 ULTRASONIC MICROPHONES AND TRANSECT DATA WILL BE COLLECTED IN ACCESSIBLE LOCATIONS INCLUDING IWLA-PCC PROPERTIES, CHAIN-OF-LAKES WATERSHED GROUP PROPERTIES, AND/OR MEMBERS’ PROPERTIES WITH WILDLIFE ACOUSTICS ECHO METER TOUCH 2 PRO ULTRASONIC MICROPHONES ATTACHED TO MOBILE DEVICES.
SITE AND TRANSECT PROTOCOLS WILL FOLLOW RECOMMENDATIONS PROVIDED BY NORTH AMERICAN BAT (NABAT) (HTTPS://WWW.SRS.FS.USDA.GOV/PUBS/GTR/GTR_SRS208.PDF), BAT ACOUSTIC MONITORING PORTAL (BATAMP) (HTTPS://BATAMP.DATABASIN.ORG/PAGES/ABOUT-BATAMP), AND THE MIDWEST BAT WORKING GROUP (HTTP://WWW.MWBWG.ORG).
HABITAT IMPROVEMENTS:
PARTICIPATING GROUPS AND MEMBERS WILL 1) MAINTAIN AND ENHANCE THEIR PROPERTIES FOR SUITABLE ROOSTING TREES AND MATERNITY LOCATIONS FOR BATS, INCLUDING BAT HOUSES AND ENCOURAGE BAT HABITAT IMPROVEMENTS BY OTHERS THOUGH EDUCATION AND OUTREACH. IWLA-PCC WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF KV REMC INSTALLED 6 POLES WITH BRANDENBARK (HTTP://COPPERHEADCONSULTING.COM/BRANDENBARK/) AT THE HE FRAME FAMILY LITTLE CALUMET CONSERVATION AREA TO PROVIDE ROOSTING HABITAT FOR THE ENDANGERED INDIANA BATS.
PARTNERS:
IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE—PORTER COUNTY CHAPTER
CHAIN-OF-LAKES WATERSHED GROUP, VALPARAISO, IN
WESTCHESTER BIRD SANCTUARY, CHESTERTON, IN
SWARNER NATURE PRESERVES
WOODLAND SAVANNA LAND CONSERVANCY
DUNES LEARNING CENTER
GABIS ARBORETUM
DISCOVERY TRACKERS 4-H CLUB
HUMANE INDIANA WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTER
USGS LAKE MICHIGAN ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH STATION, CHESTERTON, IN
CONTACT Annette Hansen executivedirectoriwlapcc@GMAIL.COM) TO JOIN THE EFFORT OR TO SCHEDULE A BAT EDUCATIONAL TALK FOR YOUR GROUP.
The Porter County Chapter's Bat Monitoring and Habitat Restoration Project is sponsored by NIPSCO Environmental Action Grant and Endowments by National IWLA and Indiana Division of IWLA.
BAT COUNTS FOR 2023
The Porter County Chapter's Bat Team aka David Besterman, has been hard at work interpreting the data collected during the 2023 bat season; April-October. Four of IWLA-PCC's conservation locations in northwest Indiana were monitored. The predominant bat species recorded across all four was the Big Brown Bat. He seems to be our hardiest bat and best neighbor when it comes to natural pest control. We know that Big Brown can over-winter here and cuddle up in dead trees, barns, sheds, attics or other out-of-the-way tight spaces that might stay above freezing. About half the calls recorded at night were those of the Big Brown Bat.
SECOND AND THIRD MOST HEARD
The next two bats are even in the findings at about 10% each of total calls recorded. The Hoary Bat and the Silver-haired Bat. They are both solitary tree bats. Hoary bats live among the foliage and migrate south for the winter, although the northern edge of their winter range is apparently in southern Indiana. The silver-haired bat migrates through Indiana in spring and fall. Both of these species are of "Special Concern" on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife's Conservation Status list.
EVENING BAT AND EASTERN RED BAT
Together, the Evening bat and Eastern Red bat account for about another 10% of the calls recorded. Eastern Red bats are also of "Special Concern", but the Evening Bat is on the "State Endangered" list according to U.S. Fish & Wildlife. It is encouraging that we are recording calls from bats on the endangered list.
ROUNDING OUT THE STUDY
The last percentages of calls recorded were of Gray bat, Little Brown bat, and Tri-colored bats. All three of these species are considered "State Endangered"; hence their rarity in our study.
Unfortunately, there were no substantiated calls of the Indiana bat nor Northern Long-eared bat. It was in trying to save the Indiana Bat that PCC started recording calls and doing bat habitat restoration in 2019.
NOTE: These findings are the predictions made by Wildlife Acoustics Kaleidoscope PRO software program and have not been vetted by a professional mammologist.
Bat monitoring Team Leader and
PCC member, David Besterman