I鈥檝e always liked the idea of being听an amateur naturalist鈥攕omeone who could name trees and flowers and听identify听birds by their call. But birders always intimidated me, and the more plant guides I read, the more confused I became. Bats, though, have fascinated me since first seeing renowned ecologist and conservationist听. Thankfully, a newly released handheld device called is making bat听identification accessible to everyone鈥攏o guidebook needed.听
The Echo Meter Touch 2 is the size of a cracker and very light, so you can bring it with you听anywhere: on a hike, camping,听trick or treating, or even just in your backyard. It plugs into the charging port of a smartphone and听can identify dozens of species of bats by their ultrasonic call. The device works in tandem with an app and monitors a 100-foot diameter for bats that are echolocating. When it picks up a call, it translates, in real time, the ultrasonic sounds to chirps that are audible to the human ear. It will also show the call on a full-color spectrogram in the app. If you are a bat expert, that would be enough data to identify the bat. But for amateurs听like me,听Merlin Tuttle-shot photographs听of the two most likely bat species pop up on the screen, too. 鈥淪eeing those portraits on the screen as bats fly overhead really makes you feel connected to these magnificent animals,鈥 says Sherwood Snyder, the app and module鈥檚 developer.
Snyder works for a company called which makes monitors for everything from birds to elephants. Their clients are mostly scientists, government agencies, and companies that use the devices to make sure new building projects don't infringe on the animals' habitats. These monitors cost thousands of dollars but Snyder听saw a potential market of amateur听wildlife enthusiasts. After five years of development, the Echo Meter Touch 2 is the first consumer-facing听bat detector ever made. At $179, it is still not cheap, but it鈥檚 significantly more affordable than anything else on the market. And once you try batting听you'll discover that identifying听a bat can be just as exciting as spotting a whale or a bear.
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