Stopgap

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March 8 - H photographed the bat in this video when we were in La Ronge a couple years ago. It brought back memories of warm nights on the farm when I'd sit and watch bats swoop in and out of the range of the yard light. Moths everywhere. Crickets. The howling of coyotes west of the yard. And south. A more distant howling in the east. Stars.

Lately I've been following the news of the deadly white-nosed syndrome in bats and the proposed stopgap measures that will soon be tested at a hibernation site in Manitoba. More here.

Wondering whereabouts, I googled. I read about the research on bats in Manitoba. About bat banding in Manitoba. About bat banding in general. About alternatives to bands. About tattooing bats. Microchips. And so on.

Today I found a CBC story on white-nosed syndrome that gives more details about the heated boxes and how the bats will be monitored. No doubt all this stuff will be on my mind the next time I see bats. I'll wonder and worry. And it will be dark. But not completely.