By Morgan Kinniry

The Belle Bat team just arrived home from a month of working at our field site in New Mexico. This month was one of the most incredible and fun experiences that I have ever had the pleasure of taking part in. During my time at the field site, I kept a running list of things that I learned to share with those who couldn’t be there. Please enjoy the list below of some of the things I learned over the last month:

  • Rattlesnakes sound like sprinklers.
  • Desert sunsets/sunrises are the best
  • The scent of bat guano can become kind of endearing with time
  • The Milky Way looks like a sparkly cloud
  • Harris’ Hawks make great biological drones
  • Mechanical drones sound like a swarm of bees
  • Fast flying bats sound like zippers
  • Bat emergence waits for NO ONE
  • Baby bats are pink
  • Baby buffalo are red
  • Asking locals (during mass) is the best way to find a good lunch spot
  • Oryx have impressive antlers
  • Bats are not afraid of drones
  • Trader Joe’s bags are GREAT for carrying anything/everything
  • Desert dust is very apt at finding its way into everything
  • It’s possible to live for a month without internet or cell service
  • Running a 5k is possible
  • The rumors are true: dry heat is truly more tolerable than humidity

I am so grateful to Dr. Kloepper and the Biology Department at Saint Mary’s College for allowing me to take part in this experience. Now I just need to analyze data and write my senior comprehensive!

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