High Line Fellows Launch 3-Year NYC Bat Survey With 4 Ultrasonic Recorders
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 18
High Line Fellows Launch 3-Year NYC Bat Survey With 4 Ultrasonic Recorders
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 18
Summary
Four ultrasonic recorders were installed on the High Line this spring, starting a three-year effort to track bats flying over the Manhattan park at night.
High school students in the High Line Fellows program and Rutgers Ph.D. student Nic Comparato are using passive acoustic monitoring to map bat presence through the animals’ echolocation calls.
Bats account for about 20% of the world’s mammal species, but their numbers and behavior in New York City have long remained poorly understood.
Comparato said surveys are already finding substantial urban bat activity; work last year at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery showed late-summer levels comparable to those in the rural Adirondacks.