On April 17th —World Bat Appreciation Day— Springfield Lakes Nature Care Inc. (SLNC) hosted its largest “Bat Detectives” event to date at Regatta and Discovery Lakes in Springfield Lakes, QLD, Australia. With 21 eager participants from Ipswich, Logan, and Brisbane, the walk aimed to raise awareness about the ecological importance of bats and dispel common misconceptions surrounding them.

Supported by Titley Scientific’s loan program, SLNC used our Anabat Scout, Anabat Walkabout, and Anabat Insight software to detect and record microbat echolocation calls throughout the evening. Dr. David Manning opened the event with an engaging talk on Australia’s two primary types of bats—fruit bats and insectivorous microbats—before demonstrating how ultrasonic detectors allow us to hear the otherwise inaudible calls of these elusive animals.

During the walk, participants were introduced to echolocation spectrograms and learned to recognize the distinct calls of local species. The most commonly detected species near Regatta Lake was the Large-footed Myotis, while Discovery Lake revealed Eastern Broad-nosed Bats, Little Bent-wing Bats, and Gould’s Wattled Bats, likely due to the area’s proximity to White Rock Spring Mountain Conservation Estate.

Thanks to the hands-on experience and informative presentations, feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. Participants left with a deeper appreciation for the role bats play in forest health and insect control—and a greater understanding of how acoustic monitoring contributes to their conservation.

Titley Scientific is proud to support citizen science events like this, where technology meets education and community engagement. Click here to learn more about our equipment Loan Program.