New Jersey
Bat Study Techniques Workshop
With Special Focus on the Endangered Indiana Bat
Somerset and Morris County, NJ • May 26-28, 2009
NJ WORKSHOP FULL! We are no longer accepting registrations. Our next workshop is now filling for August at Laurel Caverns located in southwestern PA.
In response to growing needs for training biologists to conduct bat studies, Bat Conservation International, Inc., Bat Conservation and Management, Inc., the Somerset County Environmental Education Center, the Picatinny Arsenal, and the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge are hosting Bat Study Techniques Workshops at field locations in the northeast during 2009. These Study Techniques Workshops provide guided, hands-on training from instructors with dozens of years of experience working will all aspects of bat conservation and management. The courses highlight current bat-capture methods and research techniques, especially those that will add to the body of knowledge regarding Indiana myotis (Myotis sodalis) presence, roosting, and migratory behavior in the region.
Bat Study Techniques
Workshop participants will receive hands-on assembly experience with single-, double-, and triple-high mist nets as well as harp traps. Advanced capture techniques involving arrays of multiple nets and traps will be demonstrated each night. Evening activities include collecting, handling, identifying, banding, recording echolocation calls, and data processing for captured bats. Proof of current rabies titer is required for participants to handle bats.

In addition, hands-on radio telemetry techniques will be high lighted, including a simulated tracking exercise to replicate what is currently known about Indiana myotis behavior Custom mobile telemetry platforms will be available for both the simulated activities and a limited number of participants will have an opportunity to rig their own vehicles for this exercise if desired.

John Chenger of Bat Conservation and Management, Inc., will be leading a team of BCM staff during all study and capture technique components at this workshop. He has been catching bats for over 17 years and radio tracking bats since 2000. In 2007 and 2008 alone, he and his staff conducted over 500 nights of netting and trapping in conjunction with surveys and monitoring projects in six states. Also in 2007 BCM completed four Indiana bat radio telemetry studies including two during spring and fall migration periods in southwestern PA.

This workshop is co-led by Janet Tyburec, B.A., (Trinity University, San Antonio TX). Janet was Director of Education Programs at Bat Conservation International, Inc. (Austin TX), for 15 years. She is currently a contract instructor for Bat Conservation International’s “Bat Conservation and Management Training Workshops” in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and California where she teaches wildlife biologists, educators, and other professionals field skills for bat research and conservation. She’s worked in Pennsylvania since 1994 and dreams about the day that Myotis sodalis can be down-listed.

Additional guest speakers include Ed Arnett, one of the leading experts in the world today studying bats and wind power interactions, and Marilyn Kitchell, Wildlife Biologist from the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

The three-day, three-night agenda contains a comprehensive sampling of bat conservation and research techniques and Indiana myotis case studies.

May 26-28, 2009. Limited to 22 people.

Program
Lectures/Discussions: Capturing Bats with Mist Nets, Identifying Northeastern Bats, Data Recording and Bat Processing, Deploying Mist Nets, Identifying Threats to Bats, Bat Detectors and Acoustic Monitoring, Capturing Bats with Harp Traps, Setting Harp Traps, Advanced Bat Research Techniques, Studying Bats with Radio Telemetry, Assessing Bat Habitats, Assessing Bat Hibernacula, Managing Cave and Mine Habitats, Case Studies of Indiana Bat Migrations from Mt. Hope & Hibernia Mines in NJ, and Summer Indiana Bat Surveys at the Great Swamp NWR.

Demonstrations: Single-, double-, and triple-high mist net deployment, Triple-high mist net rigging and use, Harp trap assembly and deployment, Acoustic monitoring techniques using AnaBat (FD) and Pettersson (TE) detectors, Echolocation call recording using AnaBat and SonoBat software programs, Hand-release protocols for obtaining reference calls of bats including light-tagging and zip-lining, Simulated radio-tracking demonstrations for locating bat roosts, Simulated radio-tracking demonstrations for following foraging and/or migrating bats, and Radio-transmitter activation procedures.

Field Trips: How to: Assess habitat for netting and trapping activities, Conduct evening field inventories using nets, traps, and acoustic captures, Perform radio-tracking simulations as listed above, and Coordinate bat identification and data processing.

Due to White Nose Syndrome concerns, field trips and procedures may be altered at any time.

NJ WORKSHOP FULL! Please see Laurel Caverns...
Participants unloading triple high poles during Shawnee 2008 study techniques workshop
Bat Study Techniques Workshop
With Special Emphaisis on the Federally
Endangered Indiana Myotis (Myotis sodalis)

Location: Somerset County Envionmental Education Center, near Basking Ridge, NJ (directions). A portion of this workshop will be presented at the Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. Please note this is an active military installation and all vehicles will be searched upon entry to the base. More information about access, inspection, and base entry procedures will be available to registered participants.

Dates: May 26-28, 2009 (Tuesday thru Thursday). Program runs from 9:00AM to midnight or later each day.

Lodging: Participants are responsible for arranging their own lodging. A list of suggested motels and hotels within 5 and 20 minutes of the venue will be provided to registered participants.

Equipment: Participants need to bring appropriate field gear, including hiking boots, bat-handling gloves, a headlamp with batteries, a personal pack, and a water bottle. We will be netting over shallow streams, so bring appropriate footwear. To handle bats during the course, participants must provide adequate proof of rabies per-exposure vaccination. A valid photo ID is required for entry to Picatinny Arsenal.

Meals: Continental breakfast, lunch, and box dinner is provided at Picatinny. All other meals are on your own. (Special dietary needs can be accommodated with advance notice, see registration form for details).

Materials: Registration fee includes workshop materials, references, resources, meals as indicated above, and a curriculum that covers all agenda topics.

Fee: $479.00
Fee is non-refundable after 15 April 2009 but is transferable. Visa/MC accepted online.

Questions may be directed to:
John Chenger or Janet Tyburec

Bat handlers in the Study Techniques Workshop must have rabies pre-exposure vaccination. If you do not produce a vaccination receipt during check in, you will not be permitted to handle bats. See your family doctor about obtaining the rabies pre-exposure vaccination, be aware it is a month-long process. You may email your vaccination receipt or fax to 717-241-2228.
Hands on setting and running mist
nets up to triple high in size
Advanced radio telemetry
techniques demonstrated
Hands on SonoBat/Petersson and
ANABAT acoustic recorders
Lodging Information, Mail-in Registration,
Contact, Map and Driving Directions, and Additional Information is available for download in PDF-format.

Please note field logistics force us to limit workshop attendance to 25 students. Registration and payment is required by April 15 to reserve your slot! Full payment must be received before April 15 to confirm your reservation. Reservations cannot be held without payment. After April 15, reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis if space is still available. Daily rates for this event are not available.

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