Nathusius' pipistrelle in Great Britain & Ireland

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Identification - Echolocation Calls

Echolocation

 

Nathusius' pipistrelle can be identified using a bat detector. 'Time expansion' and 'full spectrum' detectors are excellent for identifying the species, especially by their social calls. However, Nathusius' pipistrelle can usually be identified by observing the frequency containing maximum energy (loudest part) of their echolocation calls which can be revealed with heterodyne, frequency division and time expansion detectors.

 

It is assumed that the reader has a basic knowledge of bat detectors.

The diagram on the left shows the distribution of the frequency containing maximum energy (in kHz) for the pipistrelle species in Britain and Ireland. Ppy = Soprano pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus), Ppi = Common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) and Pna = Nathusius' pipistrelle (Pipistrellus nathusii). The centred line in the middle of each bar shows the mean value and the shaded areas of each bar show the 80% confidence limites, that is, 80% of recorded calls fall into the shaded area. The extremes of the bars show the maximum recorded range for each species. Extreme values are recorded rarely.

Below are the mean values of commonly measured parameters of the echolocation calls of the bats of the genus PIpistrellus with ranges in brackets (taken from Russ, J.M. 2012. British Bat Calls: A Guide to Species Identification. Pelagic Publishing, Exeter, UK)

Echolocation calls recorded from an individual flying close to a treeline. Note the long frequency modulated (FM) section of the call and the small continuous frequency (CF) tail at about 39 kHz. Download a time expansion example here.
Echolocation calls recorded from an individual flying along a narrow path in a beech woodland. Note that the frequency modulated (FM) section is quite long, and the continuous frequency (CF) tail is very short. This is typical of bats foraging in cluttered situation. the frequency of maximum energy has crept up to about 40 kHz.
Echolocation calls recorded from an individual flying out in the open, away from a nearby treeline. In this situation, the calls become much more narrowband (i.e. the long frequency modulated (FM) section is almost non-existent) and the continuous frequency (CF) tail is much longer.

Kuhl's pipistrelle

Kuhl's pipistrelle has been recorded a handful of time in the UK and is the only species whose echolocation calls almost overlap those of Nathusius' pipistrelle in terms of their frequencies. At present there is no simple way of describing how these species can be separated. However, it is very unlikely that this species will be encountered, especially as you move further north, away from the south coast.

 

 

 

 
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