Tracking the Impacts of WNS at Wisconsin’s Stonefield Historic Site
February 19, 2025
“Just like the old days, eh Heather?” Kent softly clicks his tally counter as he sits in his folding chair on the other side of
Merlin and MTBC team members spent 19 days in Costa Rica last November on a filming trip for “Bat City” with its Director and Emmy Award-winning cinematographer, Skip Hobbie. “Bat City” will be a 15-minute educational documentary highlighting the beauty and ecological importance of bats from around the world, and Merlin’s role in protecting the Congress Avenue Bridge bat colony in Austin. Much of this trip was spent wading through raging rivers to set up mist nets, capturing bat behavior in super-slow-motion, and keeping our equipment dry in near-constant rain. In the most dramatic incident, 48 hours made all the difference; just two days after leaving our first filming location — the Tirimbina Biologial Reserve in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica — our local guide told us that it had flooded and was 15 feet underwater! It was one of many lucky moments and close escapes, and I hope you’ll agree it was worth the effort.
One of our main objectives at our first location, was to show the spectacular pollination process of the sea bean flower. Each bud has a specialized petal that rises when the flower is ready to be pollinated. The shape helps reflect echolocation calls that guide approaching bats like airport landing lights guide pilots. Once a bat finds a “ripe” flower, in order to get a drink of nectar it must stick its long tongue in a tiny, 2 mm wide opening — like a key in a lock. This releases spring-loaded anthers that fire pollen onto the bat’s rump. This adaptation accomplishes two goals. First, the flower can only be visited by a bat, its most efficient pollinator. Second, by placing pollen only on the bat’s rump, it avoids mixing pollen with that of other plants (that have their pollen carried on bat faces or other body parts). We knew that the small cloud of fired pollen would be especially impressive seen in slow motion, but first we needed “ripe” flowers and bats acclimated to ignore our bright lights.
Getting our three Commmissarisi’s long-tongued bats (Glossophaga commissarisi) trained to ignore nearby lights and cameras was relatively easy, all things considered. We caught them soon after sundown. Thanks to Merlin’s many years of training experience, he was able to show trip participants Madelline Mathis and Melissa Donnelly how to make friends with our bats, less than 10 minutes after being captured in the wild.
Finding “ripe” flowers with raised petals was a real struggle! Two days of searching earned us just two inflorescences (clusters of flowers hanging on one-to two-meter-long stems called peduncles). Merlin did not have high hopes. Without better options, we still prepared our portable filming studio and released our flying talent inside. The bats quickly found the flowers and did their part. However, the flowers all proved defective, perhaps suffering from fungal damage associated with the exceptional rains. Not a single one was able to fire pollen. Our first night was a complete bust!
The next day didn’t fare much better. Despite an all-hands-on-deck search by our local guide team, we only found a few more flowers — and still, none that Merlin believed to be functional. This resulted in a second night of failed filming. Again, we didn’t get the shot we needed!
Fortunately, for team morale, we had a second studio set up where Honduran tent bats performed to near perfection. They were incredibly cute, readily feasted on tiny white figs, and flew through our flight tunnel. No larger than the tip of a human thumb, they were snow white with large black eyes, and bright yellow ears and noses. Their cooperation led to a much better night – getting some fantastic footage.
By the third night of filming, I was getting quite nervous. We needed many more shots in addition to the sea bean flower firing pollen on a bat’s rump, and every unsuccessful attempt meant less time for other objectives. Without healthy flowers to work with, we reluctantly decided to try a lower priority shot. We’d just finished building a new set, when one of our local experts, Emmanuel Rojas, excitedly reported finding some healthy sea bean flowers. They’d been right under our noses the whole time, in a nearby visitor garden — hidden in plain sight!
Once we arrived at the garden, even to my untrained eye, I knew the flowers were exactly what we’d been looking for. Not just one or two, but dozens, some clusters with up to six flowers with raised petals! We carefully cut the long, hanging stems, and made our way back to the studio.
After Merlin confirmed they were suitable, our enclosure erupted in a sudden flurry of activity. The bats had to be confined to a small holding cage while we rebuilt a sea bean set. Because Madelline and Melissa had trained the bats so well, they would have immediately gone to the flowers, each of which could fire pollen only once.
When finally released again in our studio, the bats immediately flew directly to the flowers. The flowers fired pollen on their rumps, and Skip and Joey were celebrating their dramatic, slow motion footage only moments later!
Each filming location and species brought new challenges to overcome. Below are some of my favorite behind-the-scenes moments.
If you enjoyed reading and would like to go on a trip like this, please consider becoming a member. Priority notifications and access to our trip waitlists are given to MTBC members. Our trips are a great way to make a difference for bats, help support local conservation efforts, and learn more about the fascinating plants and animals that make up our world. I hope you’ll join us in the field soon!
Special Thanks: A huge thanks go to Skip Hobbie, Katie Cleary, Joey Chapman, Falcon Bitch, and Henry Davis for their incredible dedication and expertise in capturing amazing footage. Julio Madriz, Vino De Backer, Mauricio Valverde Arce, and Emmanuel Rojas – we could not have gotten this done without their determination, tireless searching, mechanical skill, and invaluable local knowledge! Special appreciation must also go to Fiona Reid for letting us stay and film at the beautiful Sylvan Camp and Falls. Thanks also to Madelline Mathis for her excellent help training and filming bats. Finally, Daniel Hargreaves, learning from your experience has been a great privilege – thank you for your advice and mentorship.
About the Author: Duncan Hicks is the operations manager at MTBC.
Love our content? Support us by sharing it!
“Just like the old days, eh Heather?” Kent softly clicks his tally counter as he sits in his folding chair on the other side of
Bats can use sounds in many complex ways. They can sing and even have different dialects… When imagining a bat, the first thoughts that come
It was a long road to Austin, Texas. More than five years after my first introduction to Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation as a teenager, I packed
On warm summer evenings, as the hum of insects fills the air, it’s common to hear someone exclaim, “We could use some bats to handle
2024 © Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation. All rights reserved.
Madelline Mathis has a degree in environmental studies from Rollins College and a passion for wildlife conservation. She is an outstanding nature photographer who has worked extensively with Merlin and other MTBC staff studying and photographing bats in Mozambique, Cuba, Costa Rica, and Texas. Following college graduation, she was employed as an environmental specialist for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. She subsequently founded the Florida chapter of the International DarkSky Association and currently serves on the board of DarkSky Texas. She also serves on the board of Houston Wilderness and was appointed to the Austin Water Resource Community Planning Task Force.
Michael Lazari Karapetian has over twenty years of investment management experience. He has a degree in business management, is a certified NBA agent, and gained early experience as a money manager for the Bank of America where he established model portfolios for high-net-worth clients. In 2003 he founded Lazari Capital Management, Inc. and Lazari Asset Management, Inc. He is President and CIO of both and manages over a half a billion in assets. In his personal time he champions philanthropic causes. He serves on the board of Moravian College and has a strong affinity for wildlife, both funding and volunteering on behalf of endangered species.