Roper says the survey aims to be fun while gathering important information for a national database.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bat detectors are little square boxes that fit in the palm of your hand,\u201d Roper said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey have an ultrasonic microphone that records bat noises undetectable to humans. <\/p>\n
The Bat Co.Lab founder and ecologist Mark Roper says there have been sightings of bats in Havelock North. Photo\/ Ian Davidson-Watts<\/p>\n
\u201cAll participants need to do is attach it to a fence post or something similar in their backyard. If your property overlooks a stream, point it toward it as bats fly along looking for insects. <\/p>\n
\u201cThen it is just a matter of changing the battery when necessary and uploading the data.\u201d <\/p>\n
The detectors can also be used for backyard bird surveys and recording rats. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis can be critical information for pest control and is a shift for New Zealand, adding valuable citizen science data from an easy-to-collect level,\u201d Roper said. <\/p>\n
He said Te Mata Peak fits the niche as the centre of the search.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, a runner in Havelock North\u2019s Tainui Reserve reported seeing a bat, and a security camera on the Havelock North hills also captured footage, so there is some evidence they are in the area. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust last week, someone walking near Havelock North High School reported a sighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also surveyed the Maraetotara Valley, where bats might live and could potentially come down to Havelock North from there. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe reserves in Havelock are full of old and exotic trees that would make good roosting spots.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said there was a sighting of a bat at Pekapeka Swamp just south of Hastings around 2010. <\/p>\n
Pekapeka is thought to be named after bats that inhabited nearby caves, as pekapeka is M\u0101ori for bat. <\/p>\n
The council spokesperson said HBRC is obliged under the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity to record areas with highly mobile fauna (including bats), to help manage adverse effects to maintain viable populations and provide information to communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cExpert advice tells us the most important thing in reversing population decline in this species is to find maternity roost sites so mammalian predator control and habitat protection can be implemented in the most effective locations. Survey data is crucial for this,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n
A colony of endangered long-tailed bats was found roosting on a farm in Central Hawke\u2019s Bay last year. <\/p>\n
The long-tailed bat is critically endangered. <\/p>\n
Bats are Aotearoa\u2019s only native land mammals.<\/p>\n
Roper, who has been an ecologist for 15 years, started his career with fish.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I worked in a Hawke\u2019s Bay forest and got interested in bats and slowly got hooked.\u201d <\/p>\n
The survey is limited to 50 detectors and runs from October 1, 2025, to April 30, 2026. <\/p>\n
Our bat species <\/p>\n
New Zealand has two bat species \u2014 the long-tailed and short-tailed \u2014 both endemic and our only native land mammals. The long-tailed bat is tiny, about the size of a mouse or an adult thumb (with a much larger wingspan). A third, the greater short-tailed bat, is believed extinct.<\/p>\n
Biggest threats<\/p>\n
Populations are affected by the loss of old trees and roost cavities, fragmented forests, invasive predators (such as rats, stoats, possums, and feral cats), light pollution, and tree removal during winter, when bats may be in torpor.<\/p>\n
What is bioacoustics?<\/p>\n
Ultrasonic detectors are special microphones that record very high-frequency sounds beyond the range of human hearing. Bats navigate and hunt by echolocation, sending out tiny sound pulses and listening for echoes. With the help of software, ecologists can identify these calls and map activity, flyways, and hotspots, guiding planting, lighting, and development.<\/p>\n
Why bats are good for us and the environment<\/p>\n
Bats eat night-flying insects, helping protect orchards, vineyards, gardens, and forests. Short-tailed bats also act as pollinators, most famously for the wood rose\/pua o tereinga (Dactylanthus taylorii), a threatened forest plant that relies heavily on them. Their presence signals healthy habitats.<\/p>\n
How you can help<\/p>\n
Protect old trees and avoid tree work in winter. Join a local trapping group. Use warm, downward-facing lights. Report bat sightings and support Echoes Around Te Mata and the National Bat Survey. For more information, go to The Bat Co.Lab<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roper says the survey aims to be fun while gathering important information for a national database. \u201cThe bat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1975,7430,1561,1550,18057,1976,12022,10937,31993,20829,45804,23998,111,139,69,1118,13028,814,147,8690,165,406],"class_list":["post-53850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-at","tag-bat","tag-bay","tag-centre","tag-detector","tag-hawkes","tag-host","tag-hunt","tag-invited","tag-locals","tag-longtailed","tag-mata","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-peak","tag-property","tag-science","tag-te","tag-their","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}