Later this afternoon Ann and I returned to this new site (after a brief accidental side trip of gawking at the numerous shafts, pits, drifts, trenches on the way) and installed a harp trap setup. At least three other openings (probably more) lead into the sodalis, and two are covered with plastic in hopes of funneling the bats into the trap.

Currently we are in between trap checks. During the first check nearly 30 bats were captured of three species. Big browns, little browns, and Northern longeareds are represented so far. A storm front is rolling through the area and we anticipate plenty of bat activity between very light rain showers.

As I write this the 2-way radio crackles to life and a female sodalis was among the 40-50 total bats captured. We began preparing to track despite a consistant drizzle, meanwhile the ID and weight was confirmed: a hefty 6.9 gram sodalis would wear one of our transmitters tonight.

We tracked the bat all night as it circled base camp and a nearby lake for awhile before going over the hill and roosting near some private houses.

We're five people strong at this point, two nights into the project, and have a 21-day transmitter on a healthy female sodalis after only a half-nights trapping. Things are certainly moving in a hurry.

Sodalis photos tomorrow...

Left: Vertical entrance into same mine. The steep entrance shown in the photo above is just behind and to the right of Al and Ann.