Bat Species Richness and Abundance at the Chiricahua National Monument and Fort Bowie National Historic Site (13th year & beginning of the 14th year), 2012 & 2013

Krebbs, Karen

We carried out fieldwork in June, August, October, November, and December 2012 and January 2013 at the Chiricahua National Monument (CHRNM) and in June for Fort Bowie National Historic Site (FBNHS) in southeastern Arizona. Year 2012 was the thirteenth year of an on-going project to monitor and inventory bats for the National Park Service (NPS) and the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD). A total of 16 evenings (13 for 2012 and 3 for 2013) were spent netting bats in the two monuments at four different water sources. Two hundred ninety-three bats of 15 species were netted and data collected at CHRNM and FBNHS from June through December 2012 and in January 2013. We captured a new species, Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis), for the study during both the summer and winter surveys at the CHRNM. The recent Horseshoe II Fire may have contributed to the capture of this new species since the study sites at the CHRNM burned and as a result, the study areas are more open with less vegetation for the bats to fly through (personal observation). We did not capture any Yuma myotis (Myotis yumanenesis) in the winter survey for 2012-2013 as with the first winter survey in 2010-2011. A Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) appeared at the Pump study site (June and December 2012 and January 2013) for both the summer and winter surveys. The results of this study are presented in this final report.