On March 24, Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy partnered with Loudoun County Public Library for a presentation by Loudoun Wildlife Board member Bruce Kimmel. He introduced the audience to the importance of bats and covered the bats found in Loudoun County.
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Bruce became a certified Virginia Master Naturalist in 2020. Motivated by his love for bats, Bruce initiated and funded an acoustic bat monitoring project for Loudoun, with the help of his spouse, Kim Ripley.
After a successful pilot project in 2021 at Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, the bat monitoring project expanded to 15 locations in the County. In 2022, the project recorded the presence of the endangered Northern Long-eared Bat at JK Black Oak Wildlife Sanctuary in April and May, highlighting the significance of this habitat.
The local bat monitoring project is conducted in partnership with the USGS North American Bat Monitoring Project and is set to continue for the next decade. You can find the monitoring stations throughout the area, including at Morven Park and other local parks.
Setting up a bat monitoring rig.
The monitors detect the distinct bat calls beyond what human ears can detect. The sounds are fed into a program to distinguish the calls of different bats. The data is then analyzed to reveal patterns of bat activity, often correlating with certain conditions such as weather. Trend analysis over years indicate the population of each bat species
So far, monitoring has revealed that nine species of bats live in Loudoun. Most are tree dwelling, and others live in caves. The cave-dwelling bats have been severely impacted by White Nose Syndrome, a fungal infection that interrupts hibernation and leads to starvation.
Next steps for the project are to continue for at least eight more years, expand to new monitoring locations and refine collections for better trend analysis.