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Virginian-Pilot 23 August, 2000 By Mary Reid Barrow Correspondent Bats at the Beach |
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Virginian-Pilot 23 August, 2000 By Mary Reid Barrow Correspondent Bats at the Beach |
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VIRGINIA BEACH -- Hidden among the swampy recesses of First Landing State Park lives a host of unusual plant and animal species that have charmed biologists for generations. Rare bugs. Curtains of Spanish moss. Even a critter called - the chicken turtle. Now scientists have discovered an eastern big-eared bat, the first time the Virginia endangered species 
has been found in the 2,700 acre park. Its presence only adds to the
park's known natural wonders, which include 37 rare plants, seven rare
vertebrate species and at least 20 rare invertebrates."We were so happy," said nature conservation consultant Karen Terwilliger, who had been hired to search for the furry mammal. Since the discovery, Terwilliger has tracked the species to it's roost, spied on its evening dining habits and is even monitoring conditions inside his roost high in a black gum tree. Now that park officials know of its presence and habits, they will manage the park to protect areas where it and others may live. The find also adds to the annals of big-eared bat information in Virginia, of which there is very little, said park environmental specialist, Erik Molleen . Terwilliger -- who owns Terwilliger Consulting Inc., an Eastern Shore company that conducts wildlife surveys -- was on the job, because biologists believed the big-cared bat could be found in First Landing. Cypress swamps, abundant in the park but rare farther north, are the bat's preferred habitat. "The bat has been seen in coastal Virginia," Molleen explained. "But there has been very limited work done on them. We wanted to find out more." The nocturnal critter didn't make it easy on Terwilliger and Molleen. Working with First Landing employees and volunteers, they set up nets for nine hot, buggy evenings before the bat showed up. A lone male, it flew into a net set over a pond on the bike trail off 64h Street where it had come to dine on mosquitoes. When Terwilliger glued a tiny radio transmitter -- smaller than a little fingernail -- to hairs between the bat's shoulder blades, she got a close-up look at the endangered critter. "If bats can be cute," she said, "this guy is adorable." He is about the length of a forefinger and his "beautiful ears" are about as long as a little finger, she said. . Bats navigate by emitting high frequency sound that bounces off trees, bushes and, most importantly, prey. The technique, which is also used by dolphins, is called echolocation and big-eared bats do it better than any other bat because of its long ears. Terwilliger, Molleen, park staff and volunteers tracked the transmitter's frog-croak signal for nine days before the transmitter dropped off, as it was designed to do. Using handheld trackers and a large antenna that sits on the roof of a car, they became known as the "bat people" by residents who saw them driving through the neighborhoods. The bat trackers first discovered the bat's day roost in a knot-hole cavity 30 feet high in the gum tree, growing in a park cypress pond, just behind some North End homes. "That's his bachelor pad," Molleen said. In the evenings, they found him dining along the canals in Princess Anne Hills. The lights of the houses attracted insects and the canals were free of trees and other obstacles. "It was a buffet," Terwilliger said. "The canals were like a flyway." Terwilliger and Molleen also slogged back to the bat's day roost in the North End pond to raise a tiny camera called a 'peeper' on a pole to examine the inside of the roost. Then, they dropped a tiny, battery-powered data logger into the cavity to record the humidity and temperature of the roost to learn the precise living conditions preferred by big-eared bats. Using a Global Positioning System device, Terwilliger recorded the location of the tree for posterity. Now that her fieldwork is over, she is developing a management plan for the park to protect the bat, Molleen said. For example, although cypress ponds are naturally protected by their inaccessible swampy nature, it is known that big-eared bats like open spaces below their roosts, so Terwilliger may suggest that pond growth be cleared from areas where black gum trees grow, he said. You can reach Mary Reid Barrow on INFOLINE, 640-5555, category 2290, or send e-mail to: mbarrow@pilot.infi.net |
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