Bat
Count in Haile's Cave (NY)
(February
29, 2008)
Bob Zimmerman provided the following extract from a message from Peter
Youngbaer on February 29:
"Just in from Al Hicks: yesterday he and a volunteer caver
crew re-counted Haile's Cave in NY. This is one of the
original four WNS sites, and one that has seen its numbers drop over
90% over two years. It is also a major Indiana bat site, which elevates
the level of concern, being the endangered species involved in this
situation. The count yesterday was about 1,200, down from
about 6,735 in 2006, and 15,584 in 2005. How many of these 1,200
survive the rest of winter won't be known for a while."
After the message was sent to several caving e-mail liosts Susan Posey
asked the question "Did he mention: Any dead bats found or was this
merely an absence of bats resulting in lower numbers?" We
don't know the answer to that question.
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last updated or verified on March 3, 2008