2025 August 9 Bat Obsession

One thing about me is I get obsessed with things. The more I learn about one thing, it leads to the next thing and then I’m completely consumed by another thing. They all relate and then I can’t help researching how they are related. So I’m on to my next obsession: BATS.

Hiram College Field Station was an excellent location to look up and see bats! There are many bats in these trees, but you can’t see them in the photo. 

The Western Reserve Land Conservancy held a Bat Workshop at Hiram College, my alma mater, on Thursday. It blew my mind. As someone who is in bed early and up at the crack of dawn, I sometimes forget about the night creatures. This was a great reminder that there is a whole ecological piece of the puzzle going on while I sleep. Bats are out there echolocating and eating THOUSANDS of insects a night. One bat eats 40-100% of their body weight in insects nightly.

The eleven species of bats above the line are definitely found in Ohio. Below the line have been found at one point or May migrate. 

Ohio has 11+ species of bats. Three species of bats are endangered in Ohio and two federally (the Indiana Bat and the Northern Long Eared Bat). This has a lot of implications for conservationists and people who work with trees, since the bats nest in big trees. Between April 1st and October 1st, tree removal should be minimal or not happen at all, since these endangered bats roost in the big trees, both dead and alive. There is a law protecting these endangered bats, so trees must not be removed within a quarter mile of where they are roosting. Big tree companies and the sewer district follow these guidelines, but does everyone? Is everyone aware? And how do you know if a big tree is a host to a federally endangered bat?

I didn’t know any of this. Bats are fascinating!

Now comes the fun part. Todd Cartner of Discover Bats is an expert on the technology that detects different species of bats.  A few different types of sound detection have been developed very much like the Merlin app for identifying bird calls. Since  bats echolocate at higher pitches than the human ear and our technology usually detects, adaptors have been developed to detect, slow down and identify different species. Each bat species has their own specific sounds they use to find their prey, and only one in Ohio is within human detection range without technology. We went out after the presentation and tried out different detection devices. Around Hiram College Field Station we picked up at least 6 species of bats! Incredible!

It’s really hard to photograph bats at night. This is a still from a video at Hiram College Field Station. It’s likely a Big Brown Bat, since that was the most common one we saw, and they seemed to swoop closer to us. 

I asked Todd a few questions related to my work with the Northeast Ohio Sewer District (NEORSD). I wanted to know what kind of water sources attract bats, since we have everything from ephemeral pools of standing water to running streams on our sites. He said that since bats drink water on the fly, ponds and streams must be at least a foot wide and six feet long. I also asked his best advice about trees, he said that we need to have as many big trees as possible standing. We need to conserve those already standing, plant more and even leave up the dead ones, as long as they are not a danger to humans or structures.

Carli and another participant observing bats. We had different devices to detect their sounds. Behind us is a native plant meadow. Native plants attract the insects bats need to survive. Another reason not to use pesticides! In fact, bats can be the natural replacement for pesticides in agriculture. 

My last question related to a dead bat we found on the road over a NEORSD crossing in Bratenahl. He thought the bat looked like an Eastern Red Bat. Those particular bats live in leaf litter on or near the ground! He said he has seen Beech trees in the fall holding onto their leaves as they do. One branch however wasn’t leaves around all, it was sleeping Eastern Red Bats! They look just like reddish fall leaves hanging on the low branches of saplings! This is another ecological value to leaving the leaves in the fall!