This year the IBCP field team had four sites that were surveyed with most of them being in central Illinois. We set out a total of 31 nets this year and caught a total of 67 bats and five different species of bats.
In 2025 we caught 46 big brown bats (EPFU), 15 eastern red bats (LABO), 1 northern long-eared bat (MYSE), 4 Indiana bats (MYSO), and 1 tricolored bat (PESU).
The exciting catch of the season was the northern long-eared bat. This species became listed as federally endangered in 2023 and are very rare to catch in Illinois. Populations of this bat species have declined by at least 90% in the last ten years due to the disease, white-nose syndrome. While the ears do not look as big compared to a Rafinesque’s big-eared bat, the northern long-eared bat has longer ears than any other Myotis species in Illinois. Most of the IBCP team have never seen a northern long-eared bat before so there were all smiles under the masks (masks are used to prevent human diseases transferring to our already vulnerable bats).
Our bat technicians, Garret Gallion and Vivian Mundschau were very busy deploying acoustic recorders for NABat and an alternative agriculture project, collecting guano and performing emergence counts, and helping with mist netting. We cannot thank them enough for their hard work this year and a thank you to the IDNR staff who have also deployed acoustic recorders.
Bat Week takes place October 24th – 31st this year so check back in on our website for some fun bat content!