Snake of the day: A green tree viper that blends well in the lush green vegetation

Bat of the day: a wonderful Hipposideros amiger. Amazing animals, 60 g weight, hunt on large beetles with constant frequency calls, ... and it has furry ears. Looks like an Ewok

We started our field work on the sensor ecology of Thai bats a few days ago. A huge thanks to our Thai collaboratos , Sara Bumrungsri, Nittaya Ruadreo and Supawan Srilopan, for their tremendous help. Omu, a student from Malaysia, is also here to help. Lots of thanks. And last but least we are joined by my postdoc Daniel Lewanzik, my formee PhD student Manu Roeleke and my dear colleague Jens Koblitz. Keep your fingers crossed for a good field season

A group of male common noctules at our study colony, mostly juveniles. Artificial roosts like this one can help local bat populations when natural roosts are scarce, e.g., in young pine plantations. Bats feed on silvicultural pest insects and thus help trees growing. A win-win situation 😁😁

Yesterday's count at a common noctule bat colony revealed only a few previously banded bats; a few adults and some juveniles. Where are the others? Roaming around in the neighborhood or killed by wind turbines? I am slightly concerned about the droppings numbers.

Happy to be back to the advisory meeting of #unep #eurobats. Lots of things to resolve to protect a highly vulnerable taxon, namely bats. For example, unregulated erection and operation of wind turbines across #Europe. Thousands of #bats collide with and die at wind turbines in Europe. We lose important ecosystem players, which adds to the biodiversity crisis. We need to do better and curtail the operation of turbines at times of high bat activity.

New paper out in Current Biology: Wind energy production in forests conflicts with tree-roosting bats. Placing wind turbines next to bat roosts puts bats at risk of colliding withe spinning blades. Beyond roosts, bats avoided wind turbines. Wind energy production in forests may not be ecologically sustainable. Better produce wind energy in open areas.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.050
Thanks to the superb team and to Christine Reusch for leading the efforts

Graphische Aufarbeitung meines Vortrags über den Konflikt zwischen #Windkraft und Fledermausschutz bei #WWF Germany; Quintessenz: Mehr #Naturschutz wagen, sonst verlieren wir den Kampf gegen die Biodiversitätskrise in Zeiten der #Energiewende