Flight 93 Memorial acoustic survey

The Tribute in Light at the Flight 93 National Memorial was begun in 2020 to commemorate the Americans who died during the terrorist hijacking in Pennsylvania. The National Park Service contracts with Vesper to provide advice on study design, staff training, and protocols to determine how migrating birds and bats react to the display. We use stationary and mobile detectors (SM4, Mini Bat, Walkabout, EchoMeter) to collect data on bat species and behavior. We are proud to be part of the process to honor our fallen and protect our species.

Southeast Alaska NABat Surveys

Vesper was contracted by Alaska Fish & Game to identify species for ~140,000 bat calls recorded at 77 locations and dozens of mobile transects from 2015-2021. The surveys supported the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) to help track long-term trends in the bat populations of southeast Alaska. Vesper also compared detections between AudioMoth and Song Meter detectors. Species included little brown, California, Yuma, long-legged, western long-eared, and silver-haired bats. An excellent partnership!

Orient Wind Farm

In collaboration with Bat Conservation International and the Electric Power Research Institute, Vesper led human crews and dog detection teams to collect fatality, acoustic, and thermal imaging data. This information was used to test two U.S. Department of Energy projects aimed at reducing bat mortality at wind farms.

Singing Silver-haired Bats

While reviewing bat calls for NABat surveys in Colorado and Idaho, Vesper came across unusual recordings that sounded musical. Dr. Cori Lausen identified these as songs by silver-haired bats, which is new to science, and we are co-authoring a paper with her about this exciting topic. Click here to listen to the above song (time-expanded)!

Acoustic Trainings

Vesper provides online classes for graduate students, wildlife professionals, and enthusiasts seeking to learn best practices of acoustic monitoring and diagnostic acoustic characteristics for bat species. Recent classes were for species in the Eastern and Western U.S. and Canada, including T&E species (Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, gray bat, Florida bonneted bat).

Neotropical Bat Workshops

Vesper leads workshops in Costa Rica and Belize on bat capture techniques and acoustic identification. Participants captured up to 39 species, acoustically identified an additional 20 species, and still had time to explore caves, waterfalls, national parks, and local culture.