Staff report

Citizen scientists can help University of Michigan researchers this summer in work on the little brown bat. Starting off their research, night bats … er, night owls can join a mobile acoustic survey from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday, June 6. Meet at the Wynn Nature Center on East Skyline Drive. Email umich.bat.research@gmail.com to attend.

These surveys involve driving a vehicle along a pre-set route with an acoustic monitoring device attached. This will provide recordings of bat calls that can be used to locate potential roosting and feeding sites for little brown bats. Throughout these surveys you will get to see and even hear our bat friends. This data also will be sent to researchers working with the North American Bat Monitoring Program to expand their understanding of bat populations across America. 

The UM team of Ben Suter, Emma Johnston, Nora White and Asher VanAtta also will be developing a bat reporting form. If you see a bat or know of a roosting site, you can report it to the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. These reports will help scientists gain a better understanding of where the bats are in the surrounding Homer area. The form will be found on the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies website.

Finally, over the next month, the UM team will deploy audio monitors around the Inspiration Ridge Preserve property on East Skyline Drive. These monitors allow scientists to hear the high frequency echolocation calls bats make as they hunt at night at IRP. Once their roosting locations at the IRP are determined, these general patterns can be used to help locate other roosting sites in Homer. 

There are seven species of bats in Alaska, but the most common is the little brown bat or Myotis lucifugus. If you see a bat flitting above you at night it is most likely the little brown bat. These bats, as their name suggests, are little. They are 3 to 4 inches long and weigh between 7 and 10 grams, the weight of a AAA battery. But these little creatures have an important role: they can eat up to double their weight in insects, like mosquitoes, every spring and summer night. 

Due to Alaska’s size and remote location, not as much is known about the little brown bat population compared to other states. But what is known is this: Alaska presents a unique opportunity for bat conservation. It is the only state that has not been impacted by white nose syndrome. White nose syndrome is a fungal infection that causes bats to wake up during hibernation and use up their stored energy, which means they are unable to sustain themselves through the winter. Additionally, since their immune systems are suppressed during hibernation, they aren’t able to fight off the disease. It has caused nearly 90% declines in some bat species within five years of its introduction to the lower 48 United States. 

“And even though this disease has not been found here yet, the little brown bats in Alaska need our help,” researcher Emma Johnston wrote in an email. “In the few weeks our team has been here, we have heard many stories with a similar theme:  ‘there used to be so many bats flying around 10 years ago and now I just don’t see them any more.’” 


Johnston added, “We are batty for bats, and we now hope you are too! If you are interested in volunteering to help our team and the little brown bats of the Kenai peninsula, or if you have any stories about bats that you have on your property or encountered in your adventures around the area, or just fun bat facts in general please contact umich.bat.research@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you!”