I neglected to mention that our bat sighting was after sunset, just before it got completely dark. Temperature was still in the 40s, with a light drizzle.

Stefan Schlick
Hillsboro, OR

> From: jcr_5105 at charter.net
> To: GFalxa at cascadiaresearch.org; tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] RFI: Winter active bats in WA state
> Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:29:57 -0800
> CC:
>
> We also need to be concerned that day time flying bats in winter could have
> white nose syndrome...a fungal infection that causes them to awaken
> prematurely and fly about in winter. It hasn't been detected in WA yet and
> I am not saying it is...but just a heads up as this is one behavior
> biologists in the east associate with white nose syndrome.
>
> Jeff Kozma
>
> Yakima
>
> j c r underscore 5105 at charter dot net.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Greg Falxa" <GFalxa at cascadiaresearch.org>
> To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 6:27 PM
> Subject: RE: [Tweeters] RFI: Winter active bats in WA state
>
>
> In response to Stefan's request - RFI: Winter active bats in WA state:
>
> > Does anybody know what kind of bat that could have been?
>
> Nice report, Stefan. I wish I could narrow it down for you, but here on the
> wet side of the state we've recorded at least 6 species out moving around
> during the winter months (using ultrasonic detectors & a webcam), so it's
> not really possible to determine which species you might have been watching.
> If it was foraging in the canopy, then the long-eared myotis, Calif. myotis,
> Long-legged/Hairy-winged myotis , or Townsend's big-eared bats are the
> likely suspects...
>
> The majority recorded here during the winter have been California myotis and
> Silver-haired bats, which can are found foraging on winter evenings if the
> weather is not too crummy and temp. is at or above around 40F. I wouldn't
> call 40F a warm evening, but warmer evenings *do* produce more 'echolocation
> hits' on the bat detectors.
>
> There are also published and non-pub. reports of bats seen or 'detected'
> flying in subfreezing conditions, on both sides of the Cascades (and
> beyond), some when air temp. was down into the 16 - 20F range. Jon Lucas in
> the tri-cities area has recorded bats flying on nights that were well below
> freezing.
>
> Also, I assume you saw this bat in the daytime or at dusk conditions --
> maybe it's an owl avoidance strategy! I receive occasional daytime bat
> flight reports, and I once had a radio-tagged Big brown bat (Eptesicus
> fuscus) that spent 5 days on an afternoon foraging schedule during a spring
> beetle hatch. Occasionally daytime flight of bat reports appear on Tweeters,
> like this one from Mike D. :
>
> --------copied from Mike's post --------
> > Mike and MerryLynn m.denny at charter.net
> > Mon Feb 2 20:41:33 PST 2009
> >
> > Hello All,
> >
> >On 2 Dec.2002 MerryLynn and I watched a Big Brown Bat
> > fly out from under a talus slope west of Windust Park along
> >the Snake River. The air temp had spiked into the high fifties.
> >
> >Later Mike
> --------end of Mike's post----------
>
> Thanks for the post, I'll add this to my growing list of anecdotal winter
> (and daytime?) bat reports. Some winter bat into is on our web site
> <http:www.cascadiaresearch.org/bats/winter>
>
> Greg Falxa, Olympia, WA
> gfalxa at cascadiaresearch.org
>
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