City of Chicago
BAT MONITORING
The city of Chicago is home to many species of bats. In fact, the official mammal of the city is Myotis lucifugus, the little brown bat. My work in monitoring these populations helps scientists better understand how these flying friends have adapted to their urban environment. In collaboration with the Chicago Parks District, the Cook County Forest Preserves, the Friends of the Chicago River, and the Urban Wildlife Institute at Lincoln Park Zoo, we sample Chicago bats through passive acoustic and camera monitoring.
Acoustic Monitoring
With the use of the WIldlife Acoustics Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro, I am able to see what bats are flying around in real time. This bioacoustic meter is attached to a tablet which captures the bat's foraging behaviour and visualizes the echolocation through a spectrogram.
Bat House Camera
In 2016, we teamed up with local 'tweens' in a week-long 'Mammal themed' Summer Camp. Together with Field Museum Education and Facilities staff, we raised the first ever stationary bat house on museum grounds. A camera trap sits below this house and captures bat activity.
