unusual winter bat activity Great Smoky Mountains NP

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unusual winter bat activity Great Smoky Mountains NP

Postby cavergirl » Jan 16, 2013 11:26 am

Great Smoky Mountains National Park authorities are reporting numerous reports of unusual winter bat activity.
Bats have been described as flying erratically during the day and diving down toward people.

http://www.thedailytimes.com/Local_News ... -id-031925
cavergirl
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Re: unusual winter bat activity Great Smoky Mountains NP

Postby PYoungbaer » Jan 16, 2013 11:34 am

This looks like classic WNS bat activity from colonies that are affected. This past winter, colonies in year three of infection in places like western Pennsylvania and the Virginias saw significant declines in their populations, although the disease was first detected a couple years ago. We'll likely need to wait until the February surveys in the Smokies, but this sounds like WNS to me.
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Re: unusual winter bat activity Great Smoky Mountains NP

Postby cavergirl » Jan 16, 2013 2:06 pm

Peter, I thought that, too. We have had some very warm weather here in Tennessee this winter, but, while bats will fly on warm winter nights, flying erratically during the day is not a good sign.
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