I left for my summer bat catching around the end of May, and other than three days at home over the 4th of July I have been on the road working seven days a week averaging 80 hours a week. Spent a month in southern Virginia, well over a month in NW Missouri and finishing up out by the Poconos in Pennsylvania. This is all catching bats for presence/absence surveys to figure out if big business will impact endangered bats if/when they build things. It's all just catch and release until we get something rare, then it's catch and release with a tiny radio transmitter on it. For the next week we track it and figure out where it lives and where it goes.
Not home super long before heading to Kentucky to teach bat capture and identification to the upcoming generation of bat biologists. It's quite fun and we catch a lot of cool bats. If you are anywhere near Mammoth Cave, KY on August 31st, that is "Bat Night" at the national park and I am one of the public speakers. Afterwards we invite everyone, often hundreds of folks, to come to the cave entrance and see bats and watch us process them and talk about them.
Final project will be six weeks near Wilkes-Barre, PA where I will be catching bats as they fly into coal mine openings to hibernate. I interrupt them briefly to learn what species are using which openings. This allows the mine reclamation folks to do their job without harming any bats.
Finally, on Halloween (of course!) I am retiring from my position as a full time bat biologist and project manager. Time to stop the mayhem, relax a little, and just choose projects I want to do when I want to do them. Lots more family time, fishing, and of course coin fun.
Great share TB! Very interesting! Final project in my neck of the woods.
Quote: Time to stop the mayhem, relax a little, and just choose projects I want to do when I want to do them. Lots more family time, fishing, and of course coin fun.
Sounds like a great retirement plan... wishing you the best!
Thanks all! And what's not to love about sky puppies!!! I've worked with them now for 33 years professionally and enjoyed it the entire time. But just can't be away from home for the entire summer anymore, and with my wife already retired it's time we do more fun travel rather than work travel. But still rockin' busy right up until my end date, so getting in a few days to poke around coins while I can before I leave again in a few days.
I give quite good public talks, using all my own photos of bats, caves and fabulous places from around the world where I have worked. Plus you get to see several species of live bats including endangered species down at the cave entrance. Put Bat Night on your calendar for next year if you can't go this year as it's a great time.
Congrats on your impending retirement! It's a rare breed of folks who can truly say that they worked their whole career on something they really loved and enjoyed. Also glad to hear that you'll be around here more often for coin stuff, your collection is impressive and your photos are top notch. =)
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Posted 08/19/2024 05:45 am
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