Quetico Foundation

Update:

Just over five years now!

Work has begun on this summer’s bat monitoring project!

Due to the high risk of White-nose Syndrome, Little Brown Myotis and Northern Myotis bats have been classed as Endangered in Ontario. White-nose Syndrome is caused by a cold and damp-loving fungus that causes skin infection in bats waking them from hibernation during the winter when there are not insects available for them to eat. This summer’s monitoring will be completed to determine the presence and relative abundance of Species-At-Risk bats around the Dawson Trail Campground.

Bats emit loud, very short, high frequency sound pulses (well above the range of human hearing) that vary in both frequency and duration between species which allows species identification from recorded calls. We record these calls with an autonomous recording unit while paddling along the shoreline of the Pickerel River and French Lake in evenings when bats are active.

Jaedyn, a Quetico Foundation Summer Researcher, is pictured here with monitoring equipment along the French Lake shoreline.