Remember, Your Training Will Pay Off

Not All Days are Good Days I wake up nervous, having barely slept. Today is our first day at the wind farm since October 2021. I’m partially excited to handle Barley again, and partially nervous that Niffler won’t be as brilliant as I remember. He is still very young (21 …

How to Keep Bats Away from Wind Turbines with Jo Lock

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Jo Lock of Nose No Limit and Conservation Dogs Collective regarding her paper about using antecedent arrangement to help reduce bat fatalities on wind farms. Science Highlight: The relationship between the number of trainingsessions per week and learning in dogs Links …

Bats and Wind Farms with Dr. Merlin Tuttle

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks to Dr. Merlin Tuttle about bats and wind farms. Episode suggestion: Come to conversations ready to learn and ready to be curious.  Merlin started his bat career as a teenager, has done field research on every continent where bats live, photographed hundreds …

Give Bats a Break with Nate Marshall

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla and Charles speak with Nathaniel. They talk about bats, wind farms, and why you should care about the conservation of bats! Episode suggestion: Win friends, not battles. Call to action: Build a bat box. What should we like about bats?  They are around …

Midseason Musings: 2021 Summer Update

We are halfway through our season of finding dead bats on wind farms. This work will help biologists understand trends in how the turbines affect bats, particularly during migration. I am handling Niffler for his first season as a K9 Conservationist, while Rachel Hamre handles Barley at another field site. …