Albanian bats expedition report - August 2022

Dr Andrea Pereswiet-Soltan

The Polish-Italian, inter-club expedition to Albania organized this year was focused on achieving 3 main chiropterological goals:

  1. 1. Recording of flying bats inside and outside selected caves in order to check their activity using automatic bats-detectors. Dodotronic 384K BLE microphones were placed just outside the entrance to the cave (fig.1, 2, 3). The microphones were set in trigger mode (so that they activate when detecting sounds and ultrasounds emitted by bats and other animals) in the time range: half an hour before sunset to half an hour after sunset;
  2. 2. Visual inspection of the presence of bats in caves or identification of the presence of bats based on the presence of bones and guano;
  3. 3. Trapping bats at cave openings and in their vicinity, using mist nets, in order to determine the species, sex and reproductive status of identified individuals (fig.4, 5, 6 ,7, 8, 9, 10). Field activities were undertaken despite the fact that the weather was not a favorable factor until the end of the expedition. Activities undertaken in the field were hindered by the last night's rainfall and frequent fog in the evening, which caused the mist nets to get wet. The aim of these activities was a better recognition of the chiropterofauna of the studied high mountain region. Recordings made using bats-detectors are still subject to analytical work, therefore it is not possible to present the final results at present.

Photographs by Andrea Pereswiet-Soltan and Justyna Pokorska

Results:
1. The recordings were made inside 6 caves, e.g. the longest cave of the study area: Shpella Sportiva AVL 70, Shpella e Valbones AVL-110 and smaller caves AVL-R78, AVL-R51, AVL-R50. The data is still under development. A total of around 540 hours of recordings were collected;
2. The inspection of the caves did not confirm the presence of bat tracks;
3. Catches were carried out during 3 nights. The research at the Shpella Sportiva cave was carried out one night, while at the Shpella e Valbones cave during the other two nights.
Połów był udany tylko jednej nocy. W tym czasie w pobliżu jaskini Shpella e Valbones złapano 7 nietoperzy. Osobniki należą do rodzaju Plecotus sp. (fot. 11), zidentyfikowano Plecotus auritus i Plecotus austriacus/kolombatovici. Złowione nietoperze, po oględzinach, zostały wypuszczone w miejscu schwytania. W pozostałych badaniach nie uzyskano wyników ze względu na brak odłowionych okazów.

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