The Celery Farm & Beyond

Where the bats are...

   I did another bat count at a nearby house recently, and came up once again with no bats.

   I also checked (from afar) the openings in the vacant Fell House barn across the street. Nada.

  If you know of a bat roost in Allendale or adjacent town, please let me know and I will do a survey (time willing)....

Bat Count: Alas, few and far between

     I did my first bat survey of the summer last week, and the numbers were miserable. I saw no bats leaving the exterior of a nearby house -- a figure born out by a story by Jim O'Neill in The Record earlier this week.

  Bat counts are dropping because of white-nose fungus. Link to Jim O'Neill's story is here.

  The zero count by me is in sharp contrast with years past, where I've counted between 39 and more than 100 . I have done the surveys for several summers now.

    Here is a link to an update I did in 2007 for a previous incarnation of this blog, when I was an environmental writer for The Record. (The blog back then was called, appropriately, "Birds, Bats & Beyond.")

   What's more, I counted only three or four bats whiz silently past in the twilight sky last night, even though I watched for more than an hour -- or 20 minutes longer than usual.
   There could be several reasons for the poor showing.

    Click "Continue reading..." for more.

Bat Count

  I tried taking a bat survey for the state's non-game species division last night in my backyard. A light rain was falling when I started.
  After 20 minutes -- by the time I was halfway through -- the rain was coming down so hard that I had to give up for the night without seeing a single bat (or a married one, for that matter).
   I will try again tonight and post my numbers. Because of the White-Nose Syndrome, these counts are more important than ever.
    Link to earlier post about bat surveys is here.

Time to volunteer and count bats

                                                                     Photo by Melissa Craddock

    Bats are key parts of New Jersey's eco-system, and they may be in peril because of something called "white-nose syndrome." 
   Each year, the state, in conjunction with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation, recruits citizen scientists to take bat surveys statewide, and North Jersey needs more colunteers.
   Do you know where bats are roosting in North Jersey? If so, you can help by taking two bat surveys at dusk -- one by this Sunday and another after July 5.

   Download New Jersey Bat fact sheet.Download N.J. Summer Bat Count letter to volunteers 2009. 

  Download N.J. Summer bat count datasheet 2009.

  Here's the latest bat count information from Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey: Download bat count advisory

  If you know of a bat roosting site but do not wish participate, e-mail me here. Likewise, if you wish to participate but do not know of a site, e-mail me, too.

  

BATS: In the news

 

Three rare bats were discovered in the Highlands recently.
  Read the story in The Record here.

BEYOND: Bat Count Report

    In a former life, this blog was called "Birds, Bats and Beyond," and though the name has changed, my interest in bats has not.
    To see the world's shortest bat video, click above.
    In case you missed it, the video includes a slo-mo replay.
     I filmed it last year, but it pretty much shows what my bat counting experience was like Tuesday night, times nearly 40.
   
   Click "Continue reading... " directly below for more.

World's shortest bat video

   More later.