The MBWG’s 5th Annual Mist Net Event was held at the Homochitto National Forest in Adams County on July 28-30, 2008. Twenty six member attended the two nights of mist netting. Captures included 24 individuals representing five species, including eastern red bat (8), evening bat (8), Seminole bat (6), southeastern myotis (1), and big brown bat (1). Six sites were netted within the National Forest at Sandy Creek Wildlife Management Area.
A day field trip to St. Catherine’s Creek National Wildlife Refuge was led by Alison McCartney. Refuge manager Bob Strader gave the group an overview of the refuge and Alison presented on her masters thesis work which was conducted on the refuge from 2002-2004. Participants viewed four bat houses, one of which contained 70 Rafinesque’s big-eared bats and is the largest known colony for this species in Mississippi. Other species observed using the roosts included two big brown bats and a single southeastern myotis. Next, participants traveled to Laurel Plantation (privately owned) to view a cister known to house as many as 5,400 southeastern myotis.