It’s been great fun gathering plants and rocks from the area and re-creating the scene inside the photography studio. Photographing Bulgarian bats has proven far more difficult than anticipated. For the past five nights Merlin, Toni and Dani have worked all night, shooting hundreds of images nightly of which only about one in hundreds have been […]
Daniela ‘Dani’ Schmieder can train bats to fly to her hand for food. This comes in handy for photographing them in the studio, as they can be called to a specific location. They become used to her and let her pick them up for the next photo op, without having to chase them all around […]
Our first night in the field we set a bat trap in the entrance of Orlova Chuka Cave where we caught six species of bats, four of which we were able to photograph. The others were nursing mothers we had to release. We haven’t been able to capture more bats for the last three days due […]
Merlin’s talk in Sofia, Bulgaria at the British Council, the educational arm of the British Embassy in Bulgaria, was broadcast on one of Bulgaria’s most popular news programs. The talk was an introduction to bats worldwide. Afterwards, several interested attendees were invited to join us for lunch in a nearby cafe. After the talk, […]
Our Friday the 13th flight from Paris to Sofia was uneventful. From my window seat on the plane the views of the Alps were spectacular. I hope to go there some day. But this trip we are working in Bulgaria! My Lonely Planet travel guide says: “wild wooded mountain ranges speckled with remote villages and enchanting monasteries […]
After arriving home from South Africa on the 1st of May, Merlin immediately began work revising his manuscript titled Adventures of the Real Bat Man. Intended as a story-telling introduction to the amazing world of bats, it is now in press with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and the first round of editing has been completed. And […]
It’s been a few weeks since our adventures in South Africa, particularly our daytrip to Kruger National Park. To tell you the truth, I’m just calming down enough to be able to re-live the experience. Once the photography was deemed accomplished, our most generous hosts Frances and Peter Taylor suggested we take their pickup truck on […]
Valerie Linden and Sina Weier, graduate students from Germany doing research on the bats in this area shared an exciting bat netting experience with us during a braai last night at Peter and Frances Taylor’s home in Louis Trichardt, South Africa. Valerie and Sina were trapping and netting for bats one night last week in […]
Merlin spoke about bats and their conservation at Ridgeway College in the town of Louis Trichardt in South Africa and was able to include photos of local bats taken on the same day.
Merlin would like to photograph Long-eared bats (Laephotis) catching green stink bugs which are a pest of macademia nut orchards here in South Africa. Koos Steyn has been providing invaluable help in netting and trapping for Long-eared bats on a mountain where they’ve previously been found. But even though the rains have ceased and the […]
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Madelline Mathis has a degree in environmental studies from Rollins College and a passion for wildlife conservation. She is an outstanding nature photographer who has worked extensively with Merlin and other MTBC staff studying and photographing bats in Mozambique, Cuba, Costa Rica, and Texas. Following college graduation, she was employed as an environmental specialist for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. She subsequently founded the Florida chapter of the International DarkSky Association and currently serves on the board of DarkSky Texas. She also serves on the board of Houston Wilderness and was appointed to the Austin Water Resource Community Planning Task Force.
Michael Lazari Karapetian has over twenty years of investment management experience. He has a degree in business management, is a certified NBA agent, and gained early experience as a money manager for the Bank of America where he established model portfolios for high-net-worth clients. In 2003 he founded Lazari Capital Management, Inc. and Lazari Asset Management, Inc. He is President and CIO of both and manages over a half a billion in assets. In his personal time he champions philanthropic causes. He serves on the board of Moravian College and has a strong affinity for wildlife, both funding and volunteering on behalf of endangered species.
