Bat Species Richness and Abundance at the Chiricahua National Monument and Fort Bowie National Historic Site (7th year for the 10-year project): 2006

Krebbs, Karen

We carried out fieldwork in May, June, and August 2006, at the Chiricahua National Monument (ChrNM) and Fort Bowie National Historic Site (FBNHS) in southeastern Arizona. Year 2006 was the seventh year of an on-going ten-year project to monitor and inventory bats for the National Park Service (NPS). A total of ten evenings of netting were spent in the two monuments at five different water sources. One hundred fourteen bats of 11 species at ChrNM and seventeen bats of six species at FBNHS were captured in 2006. The netting sessions in May at the ChrNM were more productive for number of bats and species captured than the August netting. Bats appear to be more difficult to net at the ChrNM once the summer monsoon rains arrive in the Chiricahua Mountains. The summer monsoons produce standing water enabling the bats to disperse to other areas to drink and forage. During dry periods, bats tend to congregate at the few available water sources. The water source at the FBNHS (Apache Springs) is a permanent spring and the recent cleared areas around the water for fire prevention has opened this area to larger species of bats. At the FBNHS in August, we have netted several new species for that park and this may have resulted from the previous clearing in this area during 2005. Arizona’s monsoon season in 2006 (July and August) resulted in above normal rainfall and water was abundant in the two parks. Water was observed in streambeds or standing in areas that are normally dry or much lower in volume. Bats were difficult to capture in August in both parks probably as a result of the above normal rainfall. We also began recording bat vocalizations at the study sites for further analysis.