Panama

Success in Panama!

Bats, Field Work/Photography

During both weeks of our workshops, we encountered periodic rain showers, keeping the normally hot, dry-season temperatures far more comfortable than anticipated. The downside was that we had poor netting results on three nights during the second week. We shared the forest with some interesting characters, such as a black jaguar, which fortunately left us alone, though it likely observed our activities. This one was photographed on a trail camera near one of our netting sites.

 

We set up a triple-high mist net almost every night, both weeks.

Departing to net bats over the nearby river. Daniel Hargreaves is carrying the triple-high net rig in the red bag. His team of skilled instructors from the U.K., Steve and Fiona Parker and Daniel Whitby, were superb.

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More Bats from Cocobolo

Bats, Field Work/Photography

During our two-week stay in Panama’s Cocobolo Nature Reserve, we recorded more than 600 bats of 53 species, more than half the total number known for the entire country. Additional species were netted nearly every night, including two on our final evening. Over our two-weeks of workshops, common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) and greater fishing bats (Noctilio leporinus) were participant favorites, though an incredible variety of fruit-, nectar-, and insect-eating species were seen. The hardiest of our group members often worked till dawn, bringing in a steady stream of species for portrait photos, especially during the first week. By the second week much more time was devoted to training bats to come on call, especially to locations where Merlin could photograph natural behavior, such as catching katydids.

Merlin Tuttle training a hairy big-eared bat (Micronycteris hirsuta) to come on call to a leaf to catch katydids (its natural prey) in front of bright video lights needed for high speed video shooting.

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Some non-bat Cocobolo critters

Field Work/Photography

We found dozens of creatures while out netting for bats, and even at base camp. We don’t have species names for all of them but here’s a small collection of some of Cocobolo’s non-bat critters…

 

Jen Shallman with a Mussurana snake (Clelia clelia) Photo: Los Naturalistas
Gladiator tree frogs (Hypsiboas rosenbergi) Photo: Los Naturalistas
Eyelash viper (Bothriechis schlegelii) Photo: Los Naturalistas
Brown blunt-headed vine snake (Imantodes cenchoa) Photo: Los Naturalistas
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Bullet ants Photo by Daniel Whitby
Kind toad Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Whip scorpion Photo by Daniel Whitby
Photo by Daniel Whitby
Coral snake (Mircrurus clarkii), this was the first one of this species ever seen on Cocobolo Nature Reserve! So many discoveries to be made here.

 

 

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MTBC’s Bat Adventures continue: Panama – Week 2!

Bats, Conservation, Field Work/Photography

The new group arrived successfully and with bells on for Week 2.

We have three bats in training. Merlin trained a hairy big-eared bat (Micronycteris hirsuta) for photography. Within 15 minutes it was flying to his hand on call, rewarded with meal worms. Janell Cannon, the famous author of  Stella Luna, trained a white-throated round-eared bat (Lophostoma silvicolum) to eat from her hand. Her bat has a very calm temperament. Alexis and Amy trained a Niceforo’s big-eared bat (Trinycteris nicefori) for photography, a very sweet and eager gal.

Merlin guiding Janell in training the (Lophostoma silvicoluma) in a small tent provided for this purpose.
Merlin guiding Janell’s bat training.
Merlin guiding Alexis in training a (Trinycteris nicefori).

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Bats from Cocobolo

Bats, Conservation, Field Work/Photography

We’re just finishing up an incredible first week at Cocobolo and already caught 44 species of bats, everything from fishing bats to vampires, not to mention a wide variety of fruit, nectar, and insect eaters. Merlin added 10 additional species to his collection! Pygmy fruit-eating bats were found roosting in leaves they had cut to form “tents”.

Pygmy fruit-eating bat (Artibeus phaeotis)

Chestnut short-tailed bats were all around camp, feeding on piper fruit.

Chestnut short-tailed bat (Carollia castanea)

We caught more than 20 Common vampire bats. Frontier campesinos keep a few livestock not too far away, explaining the presence of so many vampires. Most of these seem to have lots of personality, enabling Merlin to get this cool photo. The trip participants had loads of fun shooting videos of the vampires running around on the ground on all fours.

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Hike to the Continental Divide and back!

Bats, Conservation, Field Work/Photography

MTBC’s Bat Adventures in Panama Week 1 group started out from our base camp for an energetic hike to the top of the mountain ridge. Some did it in 3.5 hours, some 6.5 hours, and everything in between. My GPS said I hiked 19,190 steps (about 10 miles!) and burned 2,701 calories. Some will go back at night to net for bats in this cloud forest where they hope to find different species than the ones found at the Cocobolo Nature Reserve banana plants, and along the lower river forest.

Merlin in the lead for our hike from camp straight up the vertical climb to the ridge top of the Continental Divide, about halfway between the Pacific and Caribbean.

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Off to a great start!

Bats

34 species, over a third of Panama’s 100+ bat species have been captured by our intrepid bat enthusiasts in just three nights!

Rebecca Edwards and Melissa Donnelly are raising the triple-high, while Fiona Parker looks on. This is a special rig to catch the freetail bats (high flyers) coming in to drink.

 

Fieldwork is teamwork! Melissa Donnelly and Daniel Hargreaves upright the triple-high net pole, while Fiona Parker and Baptiste Chadeyron open a mist net.

 

 

 

Processing team trio: Mary Smith weighs the bats, Karen Slote measures the bats’ forearm, and Mindy Vescovo enters all the data.

 

 

 

Melissa Donnelly has lots of experience catching bats and processing them. Here she trains Gretchen VanCleave, Maria Serrano, and Mindy Vescovo how to process the bats caught.

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MTBC’s Bat Adventures: Panama-Week 1

Bats, Conservation, Field Work/Photography
MTBC’s Panama Bat Workshop Week 1 Jonathan Duward, Fiona Parker, Steve Parker, Teresa Nichta, Daniel Hargreaves, Daniel Whitby, Mindy Vescovo, Rebecca Edwards, Michael Roy, Melissa Donnelly Maria Serrano, Karen Slote, Baptiste Chadeyron, and Mary Smith.

Merlin and Daniel Hargreaves, co-founder of Trinibats, have teamed up to co-lead two weeks of bat workshops at the Cocobolo Nature Reserve in Panama. The reserve is over 1,000 acres located about halfway between the Pacific and the Caribbean on the narrow Isthmus of Panama, about 35 miles wide.

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