WNS surveillance and monitoring report for Niter Ice Cave

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These four pages describe results of a survey conducted on 14 February 2013 by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Field Office personnel to check for white-nose syndrome and monitor bat populations. The cave entrance was covered in snow with no sign of recent human entry. The cave entrance and areas throughout are covered with graffiti, both of "newer" posting and some more than 50 years old. Surveyors measured the cave in 10-m sections from the point at which bats were first observed (which was in the twilight zone) to the point at which surveyors crawling on hands and knees could proceed no farther (i.e., the survey was made with focused determined-distance searches to the cave terminus in hopes of increasing the probability of detection). Two species of bats were observed: Townsend's big-eared bat (71 individuals) and western small-footed myotis (7). Temperatures were recorded from cave walls near bats. Sex was determined from the one bat that was handled per measured (10-m) reach. No sign of white-nose fungus was observed on the bats that were easily observed nor on those handled. Parasitic flies were common.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology: Mammals