When the sun begins to set Sunday evening, Chautauquans will have the chance to learn about — and perhaps even meet — some of Chautauqua’s most well-known residents.
Jonathan Townsend, bat ecologist and co-owner of Royal Fern Nursery, will be giving the Bird, Tree & Garden Club’s annual Bat Chat at 6:30 p.m. Sunday in Smith Wilkes Hall. Townsend will share a presentation including updates on some of the research he has conducted on bats over the past year, and the talk will conclude with a trip to the Chautauqua Lake shoreline to observe the bats in action.
BTG used to host Bat Chats every week throughout the season, led for many years by Caroline Bissell, but the weekly programs had to be canceled after the 2018 season because of white-nose syndrome, a fungal infection that attacks bats while they hibernate in the winter.
White-nose syndrome has killed millions of bats in the United States alone since it first appeared in 2006. In Chautauqua County, it’s estimated that over 90% of the bat population was wiped out, leading to the end of the weekly BTG Bat Chats. However, the little flying mammals have started to make a comeback in Western New York, and BTG revived the Bat Chat as a once-a-season special event beginning in 2022.
Townsend has delivered each year’s Bat Chat since the event returned, and an important part of both his talks and his work has been combating some of the misconceptions and stigmas associated with bats.
“They are one of the most vilified, misunderstood groups of creatures on the planet,” he said in a 2022 interview with The Chautauquan Daily. “They are not the evil, disease-spreading vermin that many think of when the word ‘bat’ is mentioned. In fact, they are critical components of the environment in every habitat they are found in, and provide a wealth of ecosystem and economic services that cannot be replaced, including pollination, seed dispersal, insect pest control, (and) nutrient transport.”
Chautauquans who attend Sunday’s Bat Chat will have the chance to watch some of Chautauqua’s bats echolocate in real time, thanks to an ultrasonic microphone that Townsend will be bringing with him. The microphone is able to pick up sounds that the human ear can’t hear, and Townsend will connect the microphone to a program that will allow viewers to actually “see” the echolocation as it happens.
As the Chautauqua bat population continues to slowly recover from the devastating effects of white-nose syndrome, Chautauquans can use Townsend’s annual Bat Chat as a chance to learn more about the winged creatures that have long called the night sky home, and about what their own role can be in preserving the bat population for generations to come.
