The Guiding Committee of the Natural History Society misses organizing outings in nature. Since the pandemic began, and during its many phases, we have discussed how and when we could resume our outdoor explorations safely. When we do, there are many options. There is always so much to learn. In this newsletter, wildlife biologist Darrell Smith shares his observations of the ten or so bat species that share their homeland here on the Olympic Peninsula with us. Thank you, Darrell, and maybe the Natural History Society can even learn from you in person?

For the past three years, Darrell has been using what he calls “a marvelous little bat detector – an Echometer Pro, with a microphone module which plugs into a phone or tablet and uses a sophisticated application to identify bats by the unique characteristics of their ultrasonic calls.” He considers the bat classifier application to be very accurate, and since calls are recorded, they can be verified by other means. An example of a sonogram is attached. Darrell told us that he and his biologist wife, Lorna, have been able to identify all ten of the bat species native to the Peninsula just from their property in Cape George on Discovery Bay. He writes, “Bats, along with owls, hunt the nighttime sky for their insect prey from about early April to late November. I’ve been quite surprised to find that bats seem to be just about everywhere. Even in the middle of West Los Angeles, we’ve detected Mexican free-tailed bats flying high and swiftly overhead our daughter’s home.”

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