We started the meeting this month with the program so that our guest speaker could get back to Greensboro at a reasonable hour. That might have been unnecessary given that her fieldwork with bats and mice has required the ability to adapt to an unusual schedule. Our guest speaker was Matina Kalcounis-Rueppell, PhD, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in UNC Greensboro's Biology Department. The program covered a wide range of information. We got to see spectrograms and hear audibilized recordings (slowed way down) comparing the ultrasonic calls of a bat and a mouse, comparing the voice frequencies of numerous bat species, and tracking the progressing vocalizations of a bat flying in for the kill. We also heard about maternity colonies, hibernacula, and roosts, as well as short-range and migrating flight patterns, the threats posed by White Nose Syndrome, wind turbines, and deforestation, and the difficult work and long hours involved in "batting" out in the field.
After the program and the Q&A we chose to adjourn until our September 22 meeting.
For more information about Dr. Kalcounis-Rueppell's work, visit
The Bat and Mouse Lab website: http://www.mckalcounisrueppell.org/
The fieldblog: http://www.batandmouselab.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 31, 2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
General Meeting Minutes - July 28, 2015
This month's meeting, like June's, took place in a room on the fourth floor of the museum. In attendance were John, Ken, Emily, Martin, Carlin, Joel, Robert, Summer, Cheryl, Janet, Peter, Mike, Lisa, Mark D., Keely, Jason, and Zeke.
Past Business
Carlin brought a SurveyBat to the meeting. He'll have it for a few months so the grotto can play with it, but the housing is neither entirely waterproof nor Martin-proof. Carlin has built his own housing that can stand up to, or sink into, our East Coast caves. Now he's working on waterproofing the buttons and cable.
The new TriTrogs website has not yet been born. Suggestions and assistance are welcome. Ken has pictures of the museum entrance that will be added to the meeting information page to help direct newcomers and the perpetually lost (yes, I know who I am).
The Annual Grotto Fun Trip: see Upcoming Trips, below.
New Business
A new TriTrog has emerged! Welcome, baby Kartchner!
Grotto dues for the second half of the year are $7.50 a person. Use the Paypal link on the TriTrogs website or give your payment to a grotto officer (Carlin, Rob, Mike, Emily, Mark Little).
Trip Reports
Lisa, Mike, and Peter ascended and rappelled El Capitan a silly number of times each. While Lisa was on rope she was carried some 200 feet from the cliff face by a scary wind. Fortunately it subsided gradually. Mike found a small cave on the descent hike.
Rob and Rachel went to Neversink. They descended the pit in the evening in order to get a good look at the glow worms. Super interesting things luminesced all over the place, causing the floor to move, but in a good way.
NSS Convention. Peter broke four rope-climbing records. Tanya became an NSS Fellow. Mark, Tanya, and Emily visited two Missouri show caves and unanimously preferred Onondaga Cave to Meramec Caverns. Mark, Matthew, Michael, and eMily went to Finley #1, a wild cave with several low crawls around and over a meandering stream passage. Mark investigated some climbable leads in the upper level of Finley that kept going. The kneepadless chose to turn back and missed out on the pretty waterfall and dome rooms. Emily saw a cave salamander. After the convention, Peter and Mark got their picture taken at Indiana Caverns which boasts 42 miles and is getting more added at a rapid rate.
Upcoming Trips
Aug 1-2 - Survey, Rail Valley Cave
Aug 14-16 - Annual Grotto Trip, Rehoboth Church Cave
Sept 3-6 - Old Timers' Reunion
Sept 21-28 - Survey, Lava Beds Nat'l Monument
Oct 8-11 - TAG Fall Cave-in
There is also a trip to Scott Hollow in the works. Lisa offered to organize an online date poll.
Miscellaneous
Lisa recommends On Rope 1. When she had to replace a faulty seat harness they made the process surprisingly delightful.
Program
NSS grant recipient and NCSU grad student John Wall gave a presentation on LiDAR and its potential for discovering and mapping sinkholes.
Past Business
Carlin brought a SurveyBat to the meeting. He'll have it for a few months so the grotto can play with it, but the housing is neither entirely waterproof nor Martin-proof. Carlin has built his own housing that can stand up to, or sink into, our East Coast caves. Now he's working on waterproofing the buttons and cable.
The new TriTrogs website has not yet been born. Suggestions and assistance are welcome. Ken has pictures of the museum entrance that will be added to the meeting information page to help direct newcomers and the perpetually lost (yes, I know who I am).
The Annual Grotto Fun Trip: see Upcoming Trips, below.
New Business
A new TriTrog has emerged! Welcome, baby Kartchner!
Grotto dues for the second half of the year are $7.50 a person. Use the Paypal link on the TriTrogs website or give your payment to a grotto officer (Carlin, Rob, Mike, Emily, Mark Little).
Trip Reports
Lisa, Mike, and Peter ascended and rappelled El Capitan a silly number of times each. While Lisa was on rope she was carried some 200 feet from the cliff face by a scary wind. Fortunately it subsided gradually. Mike found a small cave on the descent hike.
Rob and Rachel went to Neversink. They descended the pit in the evening in order to get a good look at the glow worms. Super interesting things luminesced all over the place, causing the floor to move, but in a good way.
NSS Convention. Peter broke four rope-climbing records. Tanya became an NSS Fellow. Mark, Tanya, and Emily visited two Missouri show caves and unanimously preferred Onondaga Cave to Meramec Caverns. Mark, Matthew, Michael, and eMily went to Finley #1, a wild cave with several low crawls around and over a meandering stream passage. Mark investigated some climbable leads in the upper level of Finley that kept going. The kneepadless chose to turn back and missed out on the pretty waterfall and dome rooms. Emily saw a cave salamander. After the convention, Peter and Mark got their picture taken at Indiana Caverns which boasts 42 miles and is getting more added at a rapid rate.
Upcoming Trips
Aug 1-2 - Survey, Rail Valley Cave
Aug 14-16 - Annual Grotto Trip, Rehoboth Church Cave
Sept 3-6 - Old Timers' Reunion
Sept 21-28 - Survey, Lava Beds Nat'l Monument
Oct 8-11 - TAG Fall Cave-in
There is also a trip to Scott Hollow in the works. Lisa offered to organize an online date poll.
Miscellaneous
Lisa recommends On Rope 1. When she had to replace a faulty seat harness they made the process surprisingly delightful.
Program
NSS grant recipient and NCSU grad student John Wall gave a presentation on LiDAR and its potential for discovering and mapping sinkholes.
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