As it has been a number of days since we have captured a female sodalis, last night we opened a new trapping effort on another mine system nearby. Of the three known sodalis hibernation sites in the immediate vicinity, we are now trapping the two largest ones (population-wise, of course). Added to that, our trapping effort now extends to nearly 3:00 AM each night.

On this night only 20 or so bats were captured, perhaps due to the frigid cold snap which has set in. Despite this, smallfooted bats were still sampled, indicating that plenty more sodalis should still be lurking within.

Left: Small footed bat, the smallest bat species found hibernating in the NE US.