Cross-Pollination: Bats and Kristen Feeding on Agave Nectar!

More success in the bat department! Last weekend Gehu, his friend Cynthia, and I headed back to Ejido Estanque de Norias and the area near Rosillo Cave (a suspected maternity cave for the Mexican long-nosed bat where females give birth to their pups) for another night of bat/agave monitoring with the infrared cameras. Last visit we only saw one bat briefly fly by one of the two focal agaves, and I’m not sure whether it was checking out the flowers to feed from or if it was swooping by to pick of the insects that swarm near the flowers. However, this time I saw several bats visit the flowers of one focal agave, with no doubt that they were feeding on the nectar! There were at least two individual bats and probably over 40 visits to the flowers of the focal agave in the “best” patch in the area (that is, the patch with the highest density of flowering agaves). I have to go back through the recording to confirm the number of visits and to try to identify the species of bat (it could be either the Mexican long-nosed bat, or the Mexican long-tongued bat, which is listed as Threatened by the Mexican federal government), but either way these bats are in need of conservation efforts so this is good information. I’m beyond thrilled that I finally saw some definite visits to the agaves, and in the way that I expected (with more visits at the focal agave in the “best” patch than at the focal agave in the “worst” patch).

A storm in the distance threatened to ruin my night of

monitoring, but luckily only provided some amazing photos.

My first kangaroo rat!

A hummingbird (colibri) perched on an agave stalk.

Woodpeckers also make use of agaves by

drilling holes into the stalks for nests!

Two shriveled agave flowers

The day after we returned from our 2-day trip to Estanque de Norias, I headed back out into the field with Claudia, Isra, and Ana for a 3-day trip down south to ejidos Tepozanes and El Refugio, which couldn’t be more different in terms of the plants, and weather. The area around Estanque de Norias is hot, dry, and without trees (that is, without shade!). The area around Tepozanes/El Refugio is cooler (and cold at night, getting down to the 40s!), wetter, and with many trees. Both pretty in their own way!

Estanque de Norias (left) and Tepozanes (right) couldn't be more different!

From a hot morning of agave surveys in Estanque de Norias (left)

to a cold car ride to Tepozanes (left), my field work has it all!

During our previous visit to these ejidos in June I wasn’t able to interview the comisariados, but I did my first night of practice monitoring with one camera setup (but didn’t see any bats). This time the plan was to interview the comisariados (leaders) and do my first set of focus groups. I was able to interview the comisariado of Tepozanes, but the comisariado of El Refugio wasn’t there and my focus groups didn’t go according to plan. It has been an exercise in “going with the flow” since planning the details here is quite difficult. I never know quite what to expect when going to the communities. Also, since I have been going with ESHAC (given money constraints and logistics) it has been hard in some communities to “fit in” my work with the people given all the other activity going on with ESHAC’s workshops. With all the other activity going on, it’s hard to pull people away to do a formal focus group or interview, especially given how bad I am at approaching people with my limited knowledge of “proper” ways to greet people and interject into conversations here. Adding to all this is my fear that I won’t do something “right” or will forget an important topic to cover in my interviews and focus groups, and won’t be able to return to follow up with people given how far away these communities are and how tight our schedule is. I just have to keep telling myself that this is a learning process, I should aim to do the best that I can now, and that there will be more opportunities later (like next year) to continue the work. Overall, the interview with the Tepozanes comisariado went well, and I managed to do a kind of informal focus group (more like a chat) with several women from the community who sometimes harvest agaves if their husbands can’t. I also was able to talk to two members of El Refugio in informal interviews, so overall the visit went fairly well.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do any bat/agave monitoring. The first night it looked like it would rain, but then didn’t, which is beyond frustrating! The second night Isra and I did drive out at night to scout out a spot to monitor, but only found a handful with open flowers, and the flowers were older and therefore without much nectar to feed on. There were a TON of agaves without stalks/flowers of the three different species used by the communities: “maguey verde”, which some people “work” to get agua miel and miel espesa (agave honey/syrup) or cut the stalk to feed their cattle; “maguey chino”, from which some people harvest the flowers to eat; and “maguey cenizo”, which some people plant for ornamental purposes in their yards (“solares”). The landscape is quite beautiful with all the agaves under the pines!

There will always be challenges with my trips, whether it be the threat of rain, battery problems, or things not going according to plan, but I’m making the most of the time and opportunities I have here, so I suppose that’s all I can really ask for! And the best part of these two trips was that I saw bats feeding on the agaves, and I got to try one of the gifts from the agave: agave honey (“miel espesa”)! A sweet, smoky treat to celebrate another two trips accomplished!