SCCF Wildlife Biologist, Mike Mills gave a very interesting presentation entitled “Bats of Sanibel and Captiva”. He has started studying and researching bats in November of 2023 and explained many reasons that bats are beneficial to the environment.

Mike grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and got his B.S. in Wildlife Biology at Southeast Missouri State University and a Master’s in Conservation Biology at the University of South Florida. Mike oversees the wildlife field work in SCCF’s Wildlife and Habitat Management Department. He started the Sanibel Island Bat Project (https://sccf.org/blog/2023/11/22/sccf-begins-bat-monitoring/) in November 2023 and continues to monitor bat populations on Sanibel today.

He discussed the ongoing work SCCF is conducting on the bat populations of Pine Island Sound. Using acoustic monitoring devices, bat echolocation calls are recorded, and each species is able to be identified from its unique call. Come learn about each species that inhabits these islands and the research being done on them.