Eric and Louise McLeod have been visiting their cabin south of Aklavik, N.W.T., for 25 years.
You’d think they’ve seen all there is to see in the area. But on their most recent trip in September, they received a surprise visit.
“In all my years of going out hunting this time of year, I’ve never seen this before,” said Eric. “And I’ve talked to a lot of people and they haven’t seen this either.”
The group was settling down around a campfire in the evening, cooking hotdogs and marshmallows when something came zipping through the air.
The McLeod cabin has a big, bright light affixed to the front. Eric told Northwind host Wanda McLeod the creature would flit in front of the light to gobble up some bugs. Still, they had a tough time making out exactly what it was, initially thinking it was maybe a gray jay.
Louise pulled out her phone to take a video.
“What sold us was … that you could see through its wings,” said Eric. “She caught it in front of the light and it was translucent through the wings.”
So what was this unexpected intruder? A bat.
First known recording
Joanna Wilson is a species at risk biologist with the N.W.T. government. She said bat sightings in the Beaufort Delta are “very uncommon” but not entirely unheard of.
However, this encounter is especially exciting.
“There have been just a handful of bat sightings reported before in the Delta, but this is the first time there’s ever been a recording made of one,” she said. “We really don’t normally see bats that far north.”
The territory has an ongoing monitoring program focused in the southern N.W.T. and Dehcho regions. It’s also worked with the Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board to install ultrasound recorders to try and capture bat calls but were unsuccessful.
While it’s not clear from the video, Wilson said the bat is likely a Little Brown Myotis. It’s the most common bat species in the territory and also travels the furthest north.
She added that bats usually spend summers in the southern N.W.T. raising their young. Then they’re on the move in the fall to find a spot to hibernate.
“We do tend to see them showing up in more unexpected places in the fall,” she said.
According to the territorial Species at Risk page, “approximately 3,000 bats overwinter in one N.W.T. cave, making it the largest known hibernation site in western Canada.” The page also lists the species as “special concern” in the territory.
Eric said the interaction at the cabin lasted about five minutes.
“It wasn’t just a freak encounter where it came in and was gone and we were like flabbergasted,” he said. “It kept coming and coming and coming and it didn’t make any noise, at least any noise that we could hear.”
They didn’t see their little friend again after that night.
Its survival is also unknown. Wilson said the bat isn’t necessarily doomed being that far north at this time of year but it’s unlikely to stick around the area for the winter.