Join The Parrot Club on Wednesday, April 24 at 7 pm ET for a talk by Dr. Devaughn Fraser about the Bats of Connecticut. While not birds, these extraordinary flying mammals occupy the same airspace as our feathered friends in CT. This diverse and charismatic group of mammals play critical roles in ecosystems and provide invaluable services for humans in the form of pest control, pollination, seed dispersal, and nutrient transport. Largely misunderstood, bats face a variety of conservation challenges, including disease, wind farm development, habitat loss, and persecution. Dr. Fraser will introduce the 9 species of bat we have here in Connecticut, and discuss the methods we are using to monitor and protect these valuable members of our community.

Dr. Fraser received her doctorate in biology from UCLA, where she used advanced genetic techniques to evaluate impacts of infrastructure development and environmental toxicants on wildlife. Prior to joining DEEP, she worked at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to identify the genetic basis oaf resistance to white nose syndrome in bats, in addition to landscape genetic studies of several other bat species. She first started working with bats as a field technician in 2009, and has been dedicated to their conservation ever since.

Contact info@theparrotclub.org for a Zoom link.