Rare bat seeks blood in Griffith Park; type O not good enough.

See, like I promised, Bioblitz did find some rare animals including a bat!!!! LAist reports an interesting story on how expert bat biologist Stephanie Remington taught volunteer bat hunters how to find bats with Anabat devices, to amplify sounds for human ears.

Remington concluded that there were four bat species in the park including tiny western pipistrelle bats (Parastrellus Hesperus) which weigh only slightly more than a single penny; Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis Mexicana) which exist in such huge numbers that they are essential for the control of insect populations worldwide; hoary bats (Lasiuris cinereus) which are huge, very visible bats with an 18-inch wingspan; and surprisingly, western red bats (Lasiuris blossevillii), which are close to endangerment. The particular western red bat recorded during the BioBlitz was the first to ever be recorded in Griffith Park’s histoy.

In addition to the bats found in Griffith Park, the final BioBlitz species tally includes 22 types of algae, four species of amphibian, 628 different arthropods, 86 bird species, six kinds of fish, three types of lichen, 91 different kinds of marine invertebrates, 495 plant types, 15 species of reptile, two non-marine invertebrates, and twelve mammal species.

I am so sorry I missed this great adventure. I had wanted to go on Daniel Cooper’s surveys for butterflies and bats, but I discovered through lao that BookExpo America was in town that weekend, and since they only come to LA once every 5 years, that was a have-to for me. And I ordered a couple of bat books, of course!

To celebrate, a cartoon below. I don’t like talking animals much, but this has a bat front and center! Originally published in LA Times West Magazine, now a subject of much contemplation.

“Oh, it’s not all reruns. There are some unsold pilots, too.” Copyright by Donna Barstow, 2008.

When I discovered the environmental study the DWP did for Silver Lake (which they totally ignored while draining Silver Lake), they found several healthy colonies of bats in the pipes and tunnels. (These are pdfs of 421 pp and 715 pp. I climb this mountain so you won’t have to.) According to the report, written by REAL scientists, not the dwp kind:

Long-Eared Myotis, Long-Legged Myotis, Yuma Myotis, Western Mastiff Bat, Big Free-Tailed Bats are special-status bats, all found in Silver Lake.

Special-status species are defined as plants and animals that are legally protected under the Endangered Species Act, or species that are considered sufficiently rare by the scientific community to qualify. Why weren’t these species of bats found last weekend in Griffith Park, which is only a mile or so from Silver Lake? The Times did an article on bats in April, which I believe could have the answer:

“We have a severe problem for bats in the Southwest getting enough drinking water. A large proportion of open natural water sites have been lost over time,” Merlin D. Tuttle said.

Many bats can’t drink unless they have fairly substantial “swoop” zones — open bodies of water that allow them to drink in flight, Tuttle said. Reservoirs and swimming pools can draw bats because they make good open-water drinking sites.

When dwp drained slk in March, they delayed refilling it for another 3 months, when they could have done it in 3 days. During that time, the special-status bats either died or went elsewhere. One more species the dwp has let disappear.

The dwp wouldn’t know Best Practices if it bit them on the neck.