The Newsmagazine of Long Beach Island and Southern Ocean County

By Juliet Kaszas-Hoch | on August 03, 2022

Biologists from Conserve Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s New Jersey field office – all specialists in bat surveying – teamed up last month for the fourth year of “mist netting” in the Pine Barrens. The team aims to capture bats and identify their species, sex and reproductive status, and to take wing measurements.

Mist nets are comprised of fine threads, such as nylon or polyester mesh, that are inconspicuous, particularly in the dark. The nets are often used by ornithologists and bat biologists for banding and research projects.

“Mist netting surveys for bats starts at sundown and continues for five hours through to the early morning,” CWF’s Meaghan Lyon explained. “The nets are set up across travel corridors through the woods with canopy cover and wetland foraging grounds nearby.

“As the bats head to and from their roosts and foraging grounds, they funnel through the corridors and into our nets. The bats are quickly and carefully extracted from the nets and then walked a short distance to our ‘camp,’ where they are processed.”

During the July survey – which took place at a productive site that had been utilized in 2018, 2019 and 2021 – the biologists captured five Eastern red bats and eight big brown bats. Big brown bats are the most common species of insectivorous bat in North America, while eastern red bats are widespread across eastern North America.

“More than half of our captured big brown bats were identified as recaptures from previous years,” said Lyon. “Recaptures are exciting because it shows that bats are using the same area each year to forage and roost. The majority of the recaptures were females and identified to be post lactating. This is also exciting because it confirms that they recently gave birth and there is most likely a maternity roost nearby.”

According to Lyon, a handful of bay surveys remain for the 2022 field season, and the biologists are eager to capture their target species, the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis).

In 2021, the team did in fact find northern long-eared bats. The species – tiny bats with brown fur and large ears – is federally threatened “due to their susceptibility to White Nose Syndrome (WNS),” Lyon pointed out after last year’s discovery. “WNS is a fungal disease that has heavily impacted bats of the Myotis family. White nose fungus grows in cold, moist environments like caves and mines – perfect habitat for many bats. This devastating disease has killed more than 6 million bats nationwide since it was first discovered in 2006.”

Last year was the first time Conserve Wildlife captured northern long-eared bats, as well as little brown bats, at that site in the Pine Barrens, and they hope to do the same this year. To stay up-to-date on the group’s bay surveys, visit conservewildlifenj.com.  —J.K.-H.

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