Get Involved
Studying bats in West Texas can be a difficult process. Patchy resources can cause bats to occur in low densities and travel very long distances in a single night. If we cannot find bats we cannot effectively study them in West Texas. In order to improve our study of West Texas bats, WE NEED YOUR EYES AND EARS to help us find our flying friends.
Finding bats is the first step in the process of studying and conserving them in our area. By accumulating data on the locations of bats, we can start to build a picture of how bats are using the West Texas landscape.
If you have bats on your property we would love to hear from you. You can contact us at the following email westtexasbats@gmail.com or you can fill out the following survey.
SURVEY IS ON IT’S WAY
We would appreciate it if you would include all or some of the following information in your email or survey:
Name
Email
Phone Number
Address
Location of bats with a description of the area
GPS coordinates of the location (if possible)
Photo of bat
Additional Comments
Please tell us what will be the best way to contact you.
What We Would Do with the Bats You Find:
Identify the Species
Take pictures of the roost and bats
Get weight and length measurements of a few individuals
Record echolocation call for our reference library
Collect a small tissue sample
PLEASE REMEMBER TO NEVER TOUCH A BAT. If you find a bat on the ground, contact a rehabilitation center. Here is a link for a rehab center for West Texas: South Plains Rehabilitation Center
For more information about western bat species and the conservation actions taken by state, federal, non-profit conservation and research groups, check out the Western Bat Working Group website too http://www.wbwg.org/