Yesterday was the day for the fall controlled burns so I thought I would post a few pictures.

For this burn, the goal was to ignite the fire around the edge in a systematic fashion and let it burn toward the center. Here the guy in the background is spreading the fire around the perimeter using a drip torch.

If you are looking for “media grade” 100 ft flames than you will be disappointed.  This is a controlled burn in the east not a national disaster in California.

After the fire goes through there is the long process of “mopping up.”

Water is used where need but generally a little goes a long way.

The fire leaves a nice clean forest ready for the new sprouts in the spring.

The last several weeks have been very busy with the end of field season but we have had a great year.

One of the final Indiana Bats we captured was this one.  She was already wearing a band and it wasn’t one of ours.   Another researcher captured her some time ago and we were lucky enough to capture her again.  This happens very rarely in bat research so we were very excited to see her.  Right now we are still tracking down who originally captured her -hopefully we will find out soon.  Many more interesting things have happened over the summer and I hope to pass some of them along to you in the coming weeks.   Until then -happy Fall.

We did come across this very pregnant Northern long-eared bat though.  She was being very calm and cooperative (or perhaps she was just so fat she really couldn’t move…?) and I was able to get a bunch of decent pictures before she slipped back into the darkness.

There were also a pile of these Eastern Cricket frogs down there making a terrible racket.  If you haven’t heard one from 2 feet or less it is quite an experience.  I think I can still feel the pulsing in my ears…

I didn’t get any pictures that were real winners but I didn’t have all night…

Finally if you haven’t heard about the new and fast spreading illness that is taking a huge toll on many bat populations -well its probably past time I said something about it.  It’s called “white-nose syndrome.”  The best idea is to read up on all the latest info on the illness right here.  But in short we still don’t know what exactly is killing the bats or how or if it is even possible to stop its deadly spread.  I did attempt a couple of pictures that express the plight of our bats.  Hopefully soon we will know more about this illness.

Trees like this may not be the most beautiful but if you really take a good look they may be the most interesting.  Study after study confirms that having a good supply of dead snags is essential for many wildlife species.   Because many forests today lack an adequate number, many wildlife managers are now looking for ways to actually create them.

The tree above is part of my study on Indiana bats.  We found it by locating a bat carrying a tiny radio telemetery transmitter that was roosting in the tree.  It may not look that special but I spent the evening last night sitting at its base…  At least 82 bats call it home -and did I mention that they are federally endangered.  You may want to think about that before pulling out that chainsaw and ridding your property of every dead snag.

Oh ya, there was one Southern flying squirrel in the net too but it was faster than the camera. Now I am going to bed… but the fun has just begun.