Activity patterns of long‐tailed bats (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) in a rural landscape, South Canterbury, New Zealand

Abstract

The temporal and spatial activity patterns of long‐tailed bats (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) were assessed between January and July 1995 by automatic monitoring of echolocation calls, radio‐telemetry and direct observation at Hanging Rock, South Canterbury. Automatic bat detection units recorded 8728 bat passes and 933 feeding buzzes during 272 nights of sampling. In addition, five radio‐tagged post‐lactating female bats were each followed for an average of 13.0 ± 3.2 (SE) days. Home range size averaged 471.4 ± 50.9 ha (95% median minimum convex polygons) but core areas of activity (50% of fixes) were 54.4 ± 5.4 ha (11.6 ± 3.1% of the home range size). Patterns of activity varied in relation to time of year, time of night, temperature, invertebrate activity and habitat. Between January and March, long‐tailed bats consistently emerged from day roosts at sunset and flew throughout the night, with peaks of activity shortly after sunset and before sunrise. After the beginning of April, long‐tailed bats no longer flew throughout the night, but they had one peak of activity between the first and third hour after sunset. Both automatic monitoring and radio‐telemetry showed extensive use by long‐tailed bats of river and riparian habitats. Radio‐tagged bats avoided foraging over open farmland, and repeatedly returned to the same sites on consecutive nights.