Join the Nightlife: 2024 Recap
October 31, 2024
Thanks to all the Join the Nightlife: Bats and Agriculture attendees who joined us out in the field this year! Guests got hands-on experience with
Thanks to help from a local macademia grower, Koos Steyn, here in South Africa, we finally got approximately 100 green stink bugs, the most costly pest of macademias, and were able to coax our common slit-faced bat (Nycteris thebaica) to carry a couple of them through an infrared beam before eating them beyond recognition. In the process we used up nearly all our stink bugs, but on the last shot of the night, after hours of failed efforts, we got a nice photo. Merlin still isn’t completely satisfied, so we’ll be trying for more.
His next goal is to photograph a Botswanan long-eared bat (Laephotis botswanae) plucking a stink bug off of a macademia branch. This is a real challenge, especially since we still haven’t even been able to catch one of these bats! The nights have been quite cold this whole trip, likely accounting for this failure. But we’ll try our luck again tonight in Koos’ orchard.
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Thanks to all the Join the Nightlife: Bats and Agriculture attendees who joined us out in the field this year! Guests got hands-on experience with
Supporter and friend of MTBC, Australian conservation and animal welfare photojournalist Doug Gimesy, had his images recognized in two categories at the recent Siena International
Fieldwork requires a lot of equipment, but photography requires even more! During our June 2024 photography workshop, we transported over 100 lbs. of equipment —
Within the dim limestone passageways of Caverna Santa Catalina, the air came alive with bats. I stood in awed silence, taking in the rush of
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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.