Top End recordings

[Murray Lord]

Hi everyone.  I’d appreciate some advice on recordings I made recently in the Top End.  I am fairly new to the world of bats and not confident in my identification.  I have worked through them with Damian Milne’s 2002 publication and the Atlas of Living Australia maps to try to work out what’s where.  I am using an Echo Meter Touch 2 and so as not to clog up everyone’s inboxes I have just included screenshots from Kaleidoscope, but can provide recordings.

 

Apart from what’s below, most of the recordings I made at Cooinda or Pine Creek were either in the 36-38 kHz range or 43-47.  The Milne paper suggests the former would be Chalinolobus nigrogriseus or Scotorepens greyii / sanbomi and the latter would be Pipistrellus westralis or Miniopterus orianae orianae.  Are those species groups still regarded as inseparable by call?

 

Bat 1 – Pine Creek

 

This was very small and was flying about relatively early in the evening.  But the characteristic frequency is about 53, and according to the Milne paper there’s nothing with a call of this shape and frequency in the Top End.  Is Vespadelus caurinus the most likely option?:

 

 

Bat 2 – Cooinda

 

I assume this is a Nyctophilus and can’t be identified beyond that? 

 

 

Bat 3 – Fogg Dam

 

Characteristic frequency around 20.  Does the presence of harmonics mean this is Saccolaimus flaviventis (and not Chaerephon jobensis)?  This is where as a beginner I struggle with all the Australian publications being based on Anabat recordings when I am making full spectrum recordings.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Murray Lord

Sydney

[damian6105]

G’day Murray, I’ve been out of the echolocation game for a long time now so I’m not up to date with the latest, and I have no experience with full spectrum, however given your reference to my bat call key (thank you btw), I feel somewhat obliged to respond.

 

Bat 1  - I think this is Vespadelus finlaysoni. This species only came to light after I wrote the key and has an Anabat characteristic frequency of around 50 to 57 kHz. Pine Creek is within it’s known distribution.

Bat 2 – Agreed, Nyctophilus sp.

Bat 3 – Given the long sequence and high consistency of all the call pulses, I’d suggest Sacc flav. I’ve never seen Chae job produce such a long consistent call sequence before. And yes, I’d suggest the harmonics are a good indicator too. Saccolaimus saccolaimus should also be considered a possibility.

 

Cheers, Damian

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[Terry Reardon]

Interesting how Kaleidoscope puts the zc over the third harmonic in some of the pulses for the Sacccolaimus call even though they look like they are weaker than H2.  Yes Murray, if this was a free-tailed bat then you wouldn't  see the harmonic at 30kHz..  Missing is the H1...although there is a fuzzy band there...maybe a cut off filter at 10kHz? 

First call looks just like finlaysoni from SA. 

Terry

[Murray Lord]

Thanks Damian and Terry.  Much appreciated.  Damian your publication might not have been intended for users like me, but it makes a huge difference to have something like that as a beginner.  What do people use when they are in an area where there isn't an equivalent publication?  Is the limited information in Sue Churchill's book the only easily accessible source of calls information for some species?

Murray

[damian6105]

Hi Murray, I suspect Sue's book is the only easily accessible source for some species, however you should never use Sue's book to make any definitive call identifications, only as a very rough general guide

Cheers, Damian

On Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 9:45 PM Murray Lord <mkl...@iinet.net.au> wrote:

Thanks Damian and Terry.  Much appreciated.  Damian your publication might not have been intended for users like me, but it makes a huge difference to have something like that as a beginner.  What do people use when they are in an area where there isn't an equivalent publication?  Is the limited information in Sue Churchill's book the only easily accessible source of calls information for some species?

Murray

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