The northern long-eared bat – a candidate for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act – has been identified at Fredonia’s College Lodge property.
Jonathan Townsend, a research biologist who earned a master’s degree from Fredonia in May 2014, documented the presence of the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) in an acoustical survey undertaken in August 2014 to assess bat biodiversity in the 200-acre parcel located south of Brocton.
Ultrasonic surveys taken at night analyzed the calls made by bats as they were hawking for insects and determined their species based on specific calls. Another five of nine species of bats found in New York State – including little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis), big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) and silver haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans) – were also identified.
Evidence of the northern long-eared bat in Chautauqua County is especially significant. Bat populations have been decimated by White Nose Syndrome, a disease that kills bats as they hibernate and has resulted in declines of 90 to 99 percent in affected species. Animals and plants placed on the endangered species list are at risk of becoming extinct.
Documenting their presence in Chautauqua County in the lodge forest just adds to the remarkable character of the property, Townsend said. “Northern long-eared bats prefer to forage and roost in mature older forests with large trees, such as the old growth at the College Lodge.” There are few places left in the county that contain large tracts of old growth forests, he added.
Townsend compiled four surveys there in the last two years and more than 20 surveys in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties for his master’s thesis and, as a volunteer, for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Jessica Pasieka, his girlfriend, who shares his passion for bat conservation, assisted Townsend in the survey work.
Before returning to Fredonia for graduate study, Townsend, who grew up in Olean and earned a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science at Fredonia in 2005, worked as a naturalist, environmental analyst and biologist for non-profits such as the Buffalo Audubon Society, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, private companies and consulting groups. He is presently a biologist with Ecology and Environment, Inc., and resides in Stockton.
“I was very much hoping to find the northern long-ears at the College Lodge,” Townsend said. “Western New York falls within their geographic range in general, and they have been identified elsewhere in the county through the other surveys I conducted,” Townsend explained. “The presence of social calls at the lodge indicates good nursery as well as foraging habitat, which means they are likely raising young each year there.”
Though considered medium-size, the northern long-eared bat has a wing span of nine to 10 inches. Its habitat in the eastern and north central United States encompasses 37 states and the District of Columbia, as well as many Canadian provinces. Adult northern long-eared bats can live up to 19 years.
No other threat is as severe and immediate to the northern long-eared bat and other bat species as White Nose Syndrome, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Bats play an important role in nature by consuming massive amounts of insects, such as mosquitos that spread West Nile Virus and other diseases, as well as agricultural pests that include grape berry moths, Japanese beetles and grape rootworms.
After symptoms of the disease were first observed in New York State in 2006, White Nosed Syndrome spread rapidly from the Northeast to the Midwest and Southeast, an area that includes the core of the northern long-eared bat’s habitat.
Additional factors believed to impact the ability of bat species to survive include loss or degradation of summer and winter habitats, environmental pollution and wind turbine operation.
