Mkjcaylor

Yes. All birds have knees, they are just tucked up by their bodies.

Tur-bin or tur-bine? The entire scientific community (and me) seems to want to pronounce the long i, but when I spent 3 months at a wind facility last year I heard everyone at the farm call them turbins. We made fun of them because it sounds like a headpiece. I am sure they made fun of us because we were getting paid to pick up dead animals. Which one do you use? Is it regional?

Sure! Sorry, I did not realize you were Canadian until after I asked about all of this US stuff.

Here is the potential 4(d) ruling:

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/news/765.html

Basically it gives many large companies (pipelines, etc) a pass during the summer to continue construction/habitat destruction if the northern is listed threatened.

I am actually a bat biologist myself. I was recently at the Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference giving a presentation about the NLEB in which many USFWS members were present that may be responsible for deciding whether the NLEB should be listed as threatened or endangered in the US. I am hoping endangered for the sake of the species, although any listing is better than no listing. Luckily with the listing in Canada there is more of a chance in the US!

I really respect your work on wind farms and I hope some day to meet you at a conference.

I don't think many of us in the bat world ever had that fear.

I was a bat advocate at 8 years old! I actually made a little video and I dressed up as a bat and called myself "Mother Bat"... Anyway. Encourage her! There are lots of women in this field. We all love bats and think they are adorable.

While the books I read are probably outdated at this point, depending on her reading comprehension she can take a look all of the "Bats of..." series. Bats of Indiana, Bats of Missouri, Bats of Kansas, etc. She can learn about the bats in her backyard!