By David Flawse, The Discourse, , Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In a flurry of wings, six mother bats drop from their roost and take to the half-lit sky. 

“Wow!” says Heather Thomson. “They’re early tonight.” 

Thomson, program manager for the Cumberland Community Forest Society, sits with five other citizen scientists in folding camping chairs near a rural Comox Valley home on June 18. 

It’s a clear, still night, and they’re tucked into sweaters while positioned under three bat boxes.

The six bat enthusiasts are here for the B.C. Annual Bat Count, an initiative launched in 2012 for researchers to monitor bat health across the province. 

Continue reading Signals in the dark: How Comox Valley volunteers monitor bats against a devastating disease →