We assume bats migrate along the shoreline because that is where most of our observations of migratory bats occur along coastlines. But how do you know that bats aren't migrating miles offshore? In the context of offshore wind development, how do we know that tall (80m) turbines won't be killing migratory bats?

On land, we would monitor for migratory activity using acoustic monitors placed on the ground or on meteorological towers or other elevated platforms. But these don't exist on the ocean. You can monitor for migratory activity by putting acoustic monitors on a boat, but that will only tell you about bat activity within a few meters of the sea surface, not at higher altitude.

NEES' solution? We designed, built, and deployed a series of tethered blimps that can place multiple acoustic monitors at rotor height at stationary platforms or by using boat-based transects. The results were immediate: migratory bats do fly multiple miles off shore at high elevations.

How do you protect colonies of house-roosting bats that are occupying a building that is going to be renovated or demolished? You use our knowledge of the roosting physiology and roost requirements to design modules that can be integrated into existing structures or incorporated into new structures to help relocate bat colonies. NEES has designed, built, and monitored these relocations at multiple sites and every single relocation was a phenomenal success, with bats occupying the structures within a single year and successfully reproducing young in their first summer.

By making these plans freely available, others have been able to create similar structures and save maternity colonies throughout the United States and Canada.

Here is a link for the Bat Roost Module and Bat Shed design