Thanks to all who participated in our bat workshop at Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge on September 9, 2023. Thirty-eight students from Mississippi State University’s Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society participated in a workshop hosted by the Mississippi Bat Working Group. Mississippi Museum of Natural Science Mammalogist Katelin Cross presented a lecture and led a game to introduce the group to bat ecology. That night the students divided into groups of 12 and mist netted three sites with biologists from the MS Museum of Natural Science, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and USGS. Each group was successful in netting a few bats with a total of 12 bats captured representing four species, plus a flying squirrel. Species captured included tricolored bat (1), evening bat (6), big brown bat (2), Eastern red bat (3).
Check out the first video in our series to celebrate Bat Week 2020 and promote bat conservation through social distancing. Come back each day through October 31 for new content on our Virtual Mist Net Event page.
Becky Rosamond raising a mist net. (Photo: Mitch Robinson)
The Mississippi Bat Working Group recently partnered with the Audubon Society to host a program on bats at the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Over 30 participants, including several kids, gathered at the center in Holly Springs on the evening of June 27, 2019 to learn about our native bats and mist net with US Fish and Wildlife Service biologists.
Members of the group gathered at DeSoto National Forest for an Earth Day Bioblitz held on April 26-29. Participants shared their knowledge of various taxa and documented over 250 species during the event. The MS Bat Working Group mist netted on April 26 and 27, documenting three bat species and a Chuck-Will’s-widow. While Seminole bats were the most commonly encountered species, a big brown bat and an eastern red bat were also caught and released. For more information on the event, check out their project on iNaturalist.
Teachers play bat/moth at the B.A.T.S Workshop near Tupelo, MS / June 2018. Photo: Deb Waz/MDWFP
MDWFP staff hosted a B.A.T.S. (Baths and Teachers Seminar) workshop at the Natchez Trace Parkway in Tupelo in June. Eleven teachers attended the event, which introduced participants to the bats of Mississippi through classroom sessions, hands-on activities, and a mist netting demo.
Another workshop will be offered at Strawberry Plains Audubon Center on July 26, earning teachers 0.6 CEUs / 6 contact hours. For more information on the July event (or to reserve a spot) contact Mitch Robinson (mrrobinson@audubon.org).
The Wolf River Conservancy has a summer lecture series, and the July 23 lecture is on the bats of Tennessee! Everyone welcome, please share with anyone that might be interested. Lectures are at the Botanical Garden in Memphis. Learn about the intriguing and important insect-eating bats that live in the Memphis area, how best to attract them, and why they need our help now more than ever—from bat expert Chris Grow. Chris completed his graduate work on bats at the University of Memphis under Dr. Michael Kennedy. For more information visit wolfriver.org.
Families got to visit the Mississippi Bat Working Group booth at the 2017 NatureFest, hosted by the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson. Over 1,400 people attended NatureFest and learned about Mississippi’s natural resources this year! Volunteers and staff from the Museum provided visitors with the opportunity to see live bats, and the MBWG also brought their photo station and fun activities for kids. Thanks for all who stopped by to learn more about Mississippi’s wildlife!
MBWG members have provided their bat knowledge to Creature Comforts, a radio show produced by Mississippi Public Broadcasting. Our most recent appearances on Creature Comforts have been on March 31, 2016 and October 27, 2016. To check out these podcasts and more, visit MPB Online.
MBWG members hosted a ‘chiroptophobia’ booth at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science’s ‘Park After Dark’ event on Friday, October 28. Participants trick-or-treated throughout the museum and learned about the science behind their fears through fun games, challenges, and hands-on exploration stations. Museum staff and volunteers hosted 2,574 kids and adults at this annual event. (Photo courtesy of Mississippi Museum of Natural Science.)
MBWG hosted a booth at Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge’s WOLF (Wildlife Outdoor Learning) Festival on September 24. Families, scout troops, and others from the community came out to the event and learned about Mississippi’s native wildlife. The MBWG booth featured an informational display along with a mist netting activity where kids could participate in a mock mist-net event. Catching plastic bats, weighing, measuring, and releasing them gave participants an opportunity to learn about Mississippi’s bats and how biologists study them.
Chester Martin, founder of the MBWG, explained the unique adaptations of bats for survival in a nocturnal world with a program entitled “The Amazing World of Bats” at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. The event was well attended, with 120 participants including children and adults. The program included a question and answer session covering a wide range of topics.
On April 16, 2016, Becky Rosamond hosted a bat booth at the Trace Festival, hosted by the National Park Service’s Natchez Trace Parkway in Tupelo, MS. The event included a mist net demonstration and several bats were captured and released.
Members of the MBWG presented a lecture on bats at the Missisippi Museum of Natural Science on April 5, 2016. The invited presentation titled “The Strange and Wonderful World of Bats” was part of the Jackson Audubon Society’s 1st Tuesday Lecture Series. Approximately 65 people attended.
A group of Webelos II boy scouts and their families joined the Mississippi Bat Working Group in north Mississippi to learn about bats with a seminar, hands-on activities and a mist netting demonstration. The scouts worked towards their wildlife belt or pin and the World Conservation Award. Read more here.
MBWG members hosted a ‘chiroptophobia’ booth at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science’s ‘Park After Dark’ event on Friday, October 28. Participants trick-or-treated throughout the museum and learned about the science behind their fears through fun games, challenges, and hands-on exploration stations. Museum staff and volunteers hosted 2,574 kids and adults at this annual event. (Photo courtesy of Mississippi Museum of Natural Science.)
MBWG hosted a booth at Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge’s WOLF (Wildlife Outdoor Learning) Festival on September 24. Families, scout troops, and others from the community came out to the event and learned about Mississippi’s native wildlife. The MBWG booth featured an informational display along with a mist netting activity where kids could participate in a mock mist-net event. Catching plastic bats, weighing, measuring, and releasing them gave participants an opportunity to learn about Mississippi’s bats and how biologists study them.