Science Show

Can you have a staring competition with a bullfrog?  Yes.  Can you win a staring competition with a bullfrog? I have no idea.  We really didn't try that hard, but this picture makes it seem like Brandon is giving it his best.  The frog doesn't look the least bit worried that he's not going to win.  

We always take advantage of the entertainment value of wildlife we come across while out at night catching bats.  Frequently, there are long stretches of inactivity with the mist nets, so we must turn to nature, to the streams and the forests, for animals to keep us occupied.  Er...well, and watch movies on the Ipad and play games with our phones.  Sometimes, we even have to have conversations (oh no!), so it's nice when a bull frog comes by and gives us a few minutes of his time. 

Visitors are a definite distraction from boredom.  I think the little guy in the photo above is a three lined salamander, found near the stream where we had our nets at a recent bat job.  The gentleman who owned the property we were set up on, his three grown sons who lived there too, plus one of his daughter-in-laws, four of his teenaged grandsons, and a two year old toddler, all came to watch the bat catching activity.  It was pretty obvious that they were amazed that people, from as far away as Kentucky, were in their territory and had such an unheard of job as catching bats.  We were referred to as Bat Woman and Bat Man, which may have been the highlight of Brandon's bat technician career.  We practically became adopted family in just the two nights we were there.  

 Fortunately, we were catching bats at a fast enough pace to please the crowd.  We were also getting lots of hits on our acoustic detector, which makes noises and has flashing lights - the most important part of any a crowd pleasing science show.  I made the video above by filming the display lights as the detector records the echolocation of bats that fly within range of it's microphone.  Bat calls can't be heard by our ears, but the machine makes an audible blip-ping noise with each pulse of the bats echolocation call, so turn your sound up.  The recorded bat calls are analyzed and matched to a specific kind of bat.  Bat surveys have come along way since researchers used to shoot them out of the sky with shotguns to find out what kind they are.  It's fun to watch people realize that while they have been chatting with us, there are bats in the air above their heads almost constantly.  Near the forest, the sky is alive after dark.  Listening to the detector at night, when insects and frogs are creating their familiar chorus, always makes me aware of a whole layer of life that I can't see or hear, but what must sound to bats like a bustling sky filled not just with prey, but with predators at work. 

 

I'm not much of a showman, but when we have visitors, I try to make sure everybody goes away feeling like they got their moneys worth, and hopefully a bit more informed about a mostly un-admired animal that lives right in their back yards.  So, I tell them what we are doing as we work up the bats, and I make sure everybody gets a good, uncomfortably close, look at them (you know, for thrills), and I answer questions the best I can.   I'm always surprised at how many people are surprised that bats have eyes.  "Blind as a bat," has wide ranging impacts on the understanding of bat optics by the general public. 

The most common questions I get are usually about how to get bats out of peoples houses, which I've never done.  I try to give helpful tips, like: "I don't how to keep all those bats from putting droppings in your attic and making you afraid to get your holiday decorations, but did you know that gray bats hibernate in caves during the winter, but then move to different caves with different internal temperatures for the summer when they raise their pups?" or "You have bats in your dormer?  Well, small footed bats can live in cracks on man made bridges, and red bats can spend the winter on the ground under leaf litter."  Probably not much help, really. 

Sometimes, I can catch a snake while guests are there, and then watch the grown men try to overcome their fear while I, a female, demonstrates to their kids that it is possible live life without an irrational fear of snakes.  

The harmless worm eating snake, called a worm snake, of all things, in the photo was too cute to not record, so I hope you enjoy my made with one hand, worm snake movie with a soundtrack of a rushing stream.