Chios wasn’t as quaint or picturesque as Ikaria but there were more bat species to be found – including one of my favourites, the Balkan Long-eared bat. However, Chios did have some great caves (with some impressive formations) and old mines where we found different species roosting. Below the species list are some photos from the trip with some of the species observed in the hand. Just click on each photo to enlarge it if you wish!
As well as the species lists and photos below, a Greek website named Aplotaria got in touch to ask if they could use a few of my photos in an article they wrote about the bats of Chios. They were kind enough to allow me to translate their article into English and post links to them here.
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Our species list for Chios, from both trapping and sound recordings, included:
Common Name | Latin Name |
Common Pipistrelle | Pipistrellus pipistrellus |
Kuhl’s Pipistrelle | Pipistrellus kuhlii |
Savi’s Pipistrelle | Hypsugo savii |
European Free-tail | Tadarida teniotis |
Schreiber’s | Miniopterus schreibersii |
Greater Horseshoe | Rhinolophus ferrumequinum |
Lesser Horseshoe | Rhinolophus hipposideros |
Blasius’ Horseshoe | Rhinolophus blasii |
Balkan Long-eared bat | Plecotus kolombatovici |
Geoffroy’s bat | Myotis emarginatus |
Steppe Whiskered bat | Myotis aurascens |
Lesser Mouse-eared bat | Myotis blythii |