seen such a bat. His inquiries led him 

 to Clark, and he joined her efforts to 

 broaden the emerging picture of this 

 bat's habitat. 



"We began checking trees," says 

 Trail, also known as "bat man" 

 around Edenton. "I guess I've looked 

 in more hollow trees than anyone in 

 North Carolina." 



Over the years, 

 Trail has been involved 

 in all of Clark's Chowan 

 County studies, and he 

 was the observer who 

 discovered light-tagged 

 bats ducking into a tree 

 cavity as they foraged. 

 His interest in the bat 

 has taken him slogging 

 through acres of swamp- 

 lands in search of old 

 tree cavities, which are 

 checked for inhabitants, 

 measured and marked. 

 He was on hand in 1992 

 when Clark and other 

 research recruits marked 

 150 hollow trees in 

 Chowan County, par- 

 ticularly black gum, 

 sycamore, sweet gum 

 and tulip poplar. An- 

 other 50 trees in Bladen 

 County were inspected 

 with mirrors and flash- 

 lights the same summer. 



"We get real excited 

 when we find a bat liv- 

 ing in a natural hollow," 

 Trail says. 



Without this 

 layman's brand of en- 

 thusiasm for the bat, 

 Clark might have trouble 

 convincing volunteers to spend entire 

 summer nights in a swamp and to 

 crane their heads into dank tree hol- 

 lows. 



But the work is important to 

 more than a handful of bat enthusi- 

 asts. Clark's research in North Caro- 

 lina and Virginia — as well as studies 

 in Kentucky, South Carolina and 



Arkansas — is critical in determining 

 what protection the bat might need, says 

 Bob Currie, a biologist for the U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service. 



"That bat is declining probably 

 because of loss of habitat — roost habi- 

 tat and foraging habitat alteration," he 

 says. "Most of our bats have had trouble 



Mary Kay Clark. N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences 



Paris 



HUGH - ;---w.Sif 



Trail takes notes in a Chowan County tree hollow 

 where a male hat has made his roost. 



with roost sites because of either distur- 

 bance of caves or loss of roost trees." 



The eastern big-eared bat was listed 

 nationally as a Category 2 species of 

 concern in September 1985, meaning 

 there is reason to believe its population 

 may be declining. But there's not 

 enough evidence to make an airtight 

 case that it is threatened or endangered, 



which would land it on the short list of 

 Category 1 animals. The Fish and 

 Wildlife Service lists a species as Cat- 

 egory 1 when research proves conclu- 

 sively that its numbers are in jeopardy, 

 Currie says. Then, it's just a matter of 

 time and procedure before it is offi- 

 cially an endangered species. 



Already, seven of 

 :r. : - : ^ the nation's 43 bat spe- 

 cies are known to be 

 federally threatened or 

 •V endangered in all or 

 parts of their range. 

 And nearly 40 percent 

 of North American bat 

 species are listed as 

 endangered species or 

 candidates for that sta- 

 tus, says Robert Benson 

 of Bat Conservation 

 International, a non- 

 profit organization. 



The eastern 

 big-eared bat remains a 

 candidate. It is on a 

 waiting list of sorts with 

 about 1,670 other Cat- 

 egory 2 animals that 

 may or may not be 

 proven eligible for the 

 federal endangered 

 species list. 



In the meantime, 

 these species get no 

 federal protection. 

 And funding is scarce 

 for the research that is 

 so critical to learning 

 their status. But perhaps 

 other benefits go 

 unmeasured and under- 

 estimated, particularly 

 the higher profile that 

 these animals enjoy in their home 

 states. 



"Making a designation like that 

 may give the animal some degree of 

 protection, but it also alerts biologists 

 to the need for study and helps to di- 

 rect research," Clark says. "Individual 

 states may give the bat a certain 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 19 



