Wildlife

Mr. Great Lakes: Birds in Tawas, white-nosed bats and Earth Day

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Mr. Great Lakes (Jeff Kart) reports from Bay City, Michigan’s Delta College Q-90.1 FM. White-Nose Syndrome in Michigan, Birds in Tawas, and Earth Day in Bay City | Mr Great Lakes by Great Lakes Echo

This week, Kart discusses the white-nose syndrome recently found in Michigan bats, the Tawas Point Birding Festival and Bay City’s plans for Earth Day. Text at Mr. Great Lakes

Wildlife

Michigan bats found with white-nose fungus

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A fungus that has already killed more than 10 million bats nationwide has been found for the first time in Michigan. White-nose syndrome was confirmed April 10 in little brown bats in Alpena, Dickinson and Mackinac counties. It is expected to spread quickly through the state, said Bill Scullon, wildlife biologist and statewide bat coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources. The bats were found during a routine winter inspection done by researchers contracted by the department. Michigan farmers, foresters and homeowners count on bats as the primary predators of nighttime insects.

Wildlife

Mr. Great Lakes: Bats, environmental art and a field guide to Saginaw Bay

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Mr. Great Lakes (Jeff Kart) reports from Bay City, Michigan’s Delta College Q-90.1 FM.  
Nov. 15, 2013 – The Environment Report – Delta Q 90.1 FM – Jeff Kart – Mr. Great Lakes by jeffkart

This week, Kart discusses two new bat species, an art contest through NOAA and the new Saginaw Basin Field Guide. Text at Mr. Great Lakes

Wildlife
Indiana bat

Bat-killing disease approaching Michigan could affect agriculture and ash borers

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Michigan’s bats are under attack — not from tennis racquet-swinging bat swatters or vampire-hunters but principally from a deadly fungus with the potential to disrupt the ecosystem.

Nationwide, white-nose syndrome has wiped out an estimated 1 million bats since it was initially seen in a New York cave in 2006. Since then, it’s been identified in 14 states and two Canadian provinces and is moving westward.

Wildlife

Fungus that kills bats likely on way to Michigan

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(MI) Detroit Free Press – White-nose syndrome, thought to be caused by a fungus previously unknown in the United States, settles on the noses and wings of hibernating bats. It has destroyed as many as 97% of the bats in some caves in the Northeast. The telltale white fungus was first noted on dead bats in New York in 2006 and has claimed more than 1 million bats in nine states since then, scientists say. More

Wildlife

Scientists hope to curb exploding bat lungs near Great Lakes wind turbines

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By Jeff Gillies, jeffgillies@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
July 9, 2009

Wind turbines cut air pollution, but they may mean respiratory trouble for bats flying nearby. “Basically, their lungs explode,” said Barb Barton, biologist with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory. Though wind turbines can kill bats by smacking them out of the sky, the huge spinning blades more often take out bats without touching them. Turbine blades spinning at up to 200 mph leave in their wake a vortex of low pressure, Barton said. Bats get caught in the vortex, and the change in pressure ruptures capillaries in the bats’ lungs.

Wildlife

Great Lakes bats threatened by mysterious disease

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By Jeff Gillies, gilliesj@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
June 1, 2009

A mysterious ailment that’s already wiped out more than a million North American bats is headed to critical Great Lakes hibernation sites. White-nose Syndrome, named for the tufts of fungus growing on the faces and wings of afflicted bats, was first spotted in New York in February 2006. The disease has since spread through New England, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Conservationists worry it could spread as far as Mexico. “As quick as it has spread, it’s most likely going to hit the Great Lakes region within one to two years, potentially wiping out 90 percent of bats that hibernate in the region,” said Rob Mies, director of the Michigan-based Organization for Bat Conservation.