Blog Posts

Bats are a model organism when talking about themes surrounding this year’s Earth Day—conservation and advocacy for science in general. Why? Because bats are universal. On every continent (except Antarctica) bats make up 1,300 of the world’s mammalian species, which is a huge chunk of the earth’s biodiversity. On every […]

Bats, Earth Day, and Science Advocacy

23 April 2017 in Blog Posts by Ash C

Congratulations to Illinois Bat Conservation Program graduate student (at Eastern Illinois University), Ashleigh Cable, who has won the Plummer/HWC Research Award, which will help pay for materials needed for her thesis research. The award was established by the family of Norm and Maria Plummer, founders of HWC Laboratories, to provide […]

Ashleigh receives Plummer/HWC Research Award

22 March 2017 in Blog Posts / People by steve

We are so proud of Tara, who, late in 2016 deposited her thesis and completed her MS degree through Eastern Illinois University, advised by Jill Deppe. Tara continues as our Bat Survey & Monitoring Coordinator through the Illinois Natural History Survey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is […]

Tara completes graduate thesis on bat biology

16 February 2017 in People by steve

On cold days like today, the bats of Illinois have to use special strategies to survive. While some bat species migrate to warmer habitats for the winter, many bats regularly hibernate in Illinois, and use this period of inactivity to survive the winter. At least six species regularly hibernate in […]

Bat Hibernation in Illinois

12 January 2017 in Blog Posts by Matt S

In addition to mist netting and acoustic surveys of Illinois’ bats, the Illinois Bat Conservation Program is conducting roost surveys to better understand bat populations in Illinois. Bats utilize both day and night roosts and what they will use as their resting area ranges widely from single bats nestled into […]

Summer Bat Roost Emergence Counts

3 October 2016 in Blog Posts / Emergence Counts / Roost Evaluations by Tara H

After field work in the north and central parts of Illinois, we recently spent two nights mist netting at Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve, in southwestern Illinois (Monroe County). A patchwork of forest fragments, restored prairie, and ponds, this property is also the site of the IBCP’s first capture of […]

Indiana bats at Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve

20 September 2016 in Blog Posts / Mist Netting tagged Endangered species / Indiana bat / Mist-Netting by Matt S

We have recently completed netting at our second site, in the Embarras River Bottoms State Habitat Area near Lawrenceville, Illinois. After two nights of mist netting, we captured five bats of three different species – the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), red bat (Lasiurus borealis), and tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). […]

Summer mist-netting on the lower Embarras River

26 August 2016 in Blog Posts / Mist Netting by Tara H

The IBCP has finished work at our first mist-netting site, in the southern portion of Kickapoo State Park (Vermilion County, Illinois). Mist-netting is a term used for the method of capturing bats using a large net made up of very fine threads. These nets have to be extremely inconspicuous because […]

Mist-netting at Kickapoo State Park

18 August 2016 in Blog Posts / Mist Netting by Matt S

The Illinois Bat Conservation Program field team has finished work at our 4th field site this summer, north of the town of Oblong, IL. Our field work has focused on collecting data using bat acoustic detectors. These detectors record the echolocation calls bats use to navigate as they fly and […]

Summer Acoustic Monitoring

2 August 2016 in Acoustic Monitoring / Blog Posts by Matt S