Social calls of the Common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus)
Recordings from 2024
To listen to social calls of the common pipistrelle, you can visit the files of the following lists on Xeno Canto:
- Type A social calls of different species of bats
- Type B (roosting) social calls of the Common Pipistrelle
- Type B (in flight) social calls of multiple species of bats
- Type C.d (high frequency FM) social calls of multiple (flying) species of bats
- Type C.i (low frequency qCF) social calls recorded in the vicinity of maternity roosts
- Type C social calls of the Common Pipistrelle
- Type D social calls of the Common Pipistrelle
- Modified echolocation (hooked calls) of Pipistrellus spp.
The following type A and type B social calls were emitted from within a maternity roost of common pipistrelle around 22:00. At least 40 individuals were counted leaving the roost. At least 20 individuals came back to the location of the roost at around 0:00. Swarming in front of the entrance and some entering the roost again.
Similar type B social calls have been recorded in the vicinity of a roost just after at least four individual common pipistrelles were counted leaving the roost. The lack of echolocation confirms that these calls are emitted from a stationairy bat; a bat from within the roost.
These type B roosting sounds are most likely from a common pipistrelle. Scats were also found underneath the roost. It suddenly started to rain after these calls were recorded, so to protect the electronic devices it was decided to not wait for the bat to emerge from the roost.
Date of recording: 2024-05-30 Recorded by: Timo Boer Audio file: 915538
These type B social calls were recorded near a roost where around 40 to 45 common pipistrelles were seen leaving and entering the roost.
Date of recording: 2024-06-07 Recorded by: Manno Kolvoort Audio file: 917123
Two common pipistrelles flew into a bat box located on a wall. A lot of type B social calls were emitted from within the bat box (within a duration of 17 seconds).
Date of recording: 2024-06-27 Recorded by: Fabienne Schwab Audio file: 917062
More similar type B social calls were once again recorded near a maternity roost where at least 72 individual common pipistrelles were counted leaving the roost.
And some more similar type B social calls were recorded near a maternity roost where at least 40 individual common pipistrelles were counted leaving the roost.
The first recording of Sanneke contains echolocation of a common pipistrelle leaving the roost and type B social calls of stationairy bats from within the roost. The second recording contains type B social calls only.
Before the start of our surveys, while trying out the new batdetector, Dennis recorded the first type C social calls of the common pipistrelle in the end of March. In the same recording, social calls of the common noctule are also present (not shown here).
Date of recording: 2024-04-27 Recorded by: Dennis Rademaker Audio file: 910936
In the following recording, also recorded before the start of our surveys, multipe variants of type C social calls are pesent. Three common pipistrelles were seen flying near a possible roost when suddenly very particular low-frequency type social calls were emitted together with some high-frequency social calls.
Date of recording: 2024-05-13 Recorded by: Eva van Well Audio file: 911804
These common pipistrelle social calls were recorded near a roost of at least eight individuals:
Date of recording: 2024-05-24 Recorded by: Victor Bonaccorso Audio file: 911722
These type C social call were emitted a whopping 240 times in the short time period of 22,5 seconds. Tessa saw three bats swarming and tapping the gabel of the house, but none of the bats entered the building. After the video was taken, the bats flew away at around 5:00 and they did not return to the location afterwards. This creates the assumtion that their roost was somewhere else. The function of these social calls are uncertain.
The following recording was made in an area where common pipistrelles were seen foraging in the area for at least 45 minutes. I have considered Nathusius' pipistrelle (Pipistrellus nathusii), due to their resemblence of the part D motif of the type D social calls. The bat emits a few FM components (like one would suspect of a Nathusius' pipistrelle as well) and and a few FM sweeps with a non-connected qCF warble directly after, just like some of the components of the part D motif in the recording 911810. What differs from the part D motif, is that the components in this recording are emitted continuously instead of clustered in groups. The calls also look very similar to the series of type C social calls in 920862 and 917912 of a common pipistrelle. Since the common pipistrelles seem to be the only present species when looking at the echolocation calls in the recording, the social calls of this recording most likely belongs to a common pipistrelle
Date of recording: 2024-06-08 Recorded by: Simon Boon Audio file: 911624
Eva saw two bats swarming for about 30 minutes in the early morning. What is interesting, is that no bats were seen tapping any possible roost entrances. A few low frequency type C social calls were emitted and 15 minutes later a series of high frequency FM-calls.
Some more high frequency social calls recorded in a street with a line of trees that services as a flying route for at least 21 common pipistrelles.
Date of recordings: 2024-05-26 Recorded by: Levi Laluan Audio files: 916805
Agonistic calls (type B) right after a feeding buzz. The common pipistrelle probably showed agonistic behavior towards the Nathusius' pipistrelle.
Date of recording: 2024-06-28 Recorded by: Hubert Matuszewski Audio file: 917428
These series of agonistic calls were recorded on two different occasions when two common pipistrelles were visibly circling each other in flight.
Date of recording: 2024-05-28 Recorded by: Douwe van der Wijk Audio file: 910880
Date of recording: 2024-07-16 Recorded by: Sanna Gerdes Audio file: 921314 Video footage from: Sanna Gerdes
Common pipistrelles were seen chasing each other near a busy foraging area during the following recording. Both common pipistrelles in the recording start to emit FM calls and one of the bats even develops 'hooks' at the start of the calls, giving them a walking stick appearance. These examples are very rare and so far previous literature written about these calls have not been able to determine the context behind such emissions. They may be communicative, at least to some degree (Middleton et al., 2020). Hence why we consider them modified echolocation calls instead of social calls.
Date of recording: 2024-06-20 Recorded by: Francien van Langen Audio file: 915128
Another possible modified echolocation call at 4,510 s. The bat was seen tapping a possible roost entrance.
Date of recordings: 2024-06-27 Recorded by: Arend Geerlofs Audio files: 917142
During a survey to check for roosting bats behind wooden window shutters, a common pipistrelle was disturbed by moving the window shutter in combination with the use of a flashlight. During this moment, the bat emitted seven type C social calls in the shape of FM sweeps with a wide withband.
Date of recordings: 2024-09-12 Recorded by: Sarah Mahie Audio files: 933410 Photos by: Boaz van Die
This recording is made near a maternity roost where at least 14 common pipistrelles were seen entering the roost. Around 10 bats were still swarming in the area in front of the roost. At 20kHz a series of calls with a particular long duration are visible, some up to 40ms. My first impression was that these calls were from a small terrestrial mammal, a rat perhaps, so I contacted Stuart Newson for his expertise about the topic. His judgement was as follows: "I am quite confident that these calls were not produced by a rat - when I play them in 10 x expansion, they don’t sound like rat calls. They sound more like bat (social) calls – but I don’t recognise these."
Even though I was still a little sceptic about the possible social calls in the previous recording, I came across similar looking calls (although very faint) in a recording near another maternity roost of common pipistrelles on a totally different location. At least 20 individual common pipistrelles reside in this roost. Seven bats, or perhaps more, were seen entering the roost and one was seen leaving the roost. They were swarming in front of the roost and individuals were tipping the roost's entrance aswell. This led me to believe that these may be from bats within the roost.
Not too long after, I got some clear recordings of these calls in the vicinity of another maternity roost of common pipistrelles that confirmed these calls being common pipistrelle social calls.
Date of recording: 2024-06-08 Recorded by: Anice Hut Audio file: 913072 Video footage from: Anice Hut
These are the calls that I mentioned that confirmed the thought that they are common pipistrelle social calls, possibly emitted by juveniles. These were recorded close to a maternity roost where around 40 common pipistrelle reside. A juvenile bat had fallen out of the roost and was found by the residents of the building. After a little care from a specialist, the juvenile bat was placed on the wall of the building and it climbed its way back to the roost. I am grateful to have witnissed this spectacle and to have recordings of the calls for future comparison.
Calls of the isolated juvenile (estimated to be around 2 weeks old) common pipistrelle, outside of the roost:
These calls were recorded the moment the juvenile bat was placed on the wall to climb it's way back. The juvenile bat as well as the bats in the maternity roost were making calls upon his return. Social calls type A, B, C and D were all recorded.
When an adult bat emerged from the roost, some potential type C social calls for tandem flights were recorded too:
The low-frequency qCF social calls were recorded for a fourth time. This time around six to eight bats were seen tapping a possible roost entrance about half an hour before midnight, but Puck did not witness any bats entering the building. After 10 minutes some bats had suddenly dissapeared, suggesting they might have entered the roost somewhere out of sight. Type B social calls (visible in the last snippit) are emitted by stationairy bats, so I suspect their roost had to be nearby. The low-frequency type C social calls convince me that we are likely dealing with a maternity roost.
Some more low-frequency qCF calls were recorded near a maternity roost where at least 25 common pipistrelles were counted. The group of bats returned to the roost around half an hour after midnight, probably to feed their young. The group of bats were swarming in front of the entrance and some bats were seen entering the roost.
These type B and type C social calls were recorded near a maternity roost were at least 44 common pipistrelles reside:
These type B and type C social calls were recorded in the vicinity of a maternity roost where at least 30 common pipistrelles were counted emerging from the roost.
This snippit on the right is from a recording that was made at a location where around 23 common pipistrelles were seen swarming nearby a possible roost entrance. No bats were seen entering or leaving the building, because the location was difficult to observe, but the 'spontaneous' appearance of bats at the location do point at the presence of a roost. The social calls might not be the best indicator in this case, since similar socials calls were recorded in the vicinity of swarming bats without a nearby roost present.
The type B social calls in the snippits below (from another recording) are a good indicator of a roost. Even when faint. This recording was made near a known maternity roost.
Date of recording: 2024-06-19 Recorded by: Mathijs Hendricksen Audio file: 915120
These type C social calls were recorded when four bats were seen swarming and tapping a possible roost location, but no bats were seen entering.
Date of recording: 2024-06-22 Recorded by: Rodin de Jong Audio file: 915766
These two type C social calls were recorded when a common pipistrelle was tapping a possible roost entrance. No bat was seen entering.
Date of recording: 2024-06-25 Recorded by: Bart Kroese Audio file: 916039
More type C social calls were recorded at a location where five common pipistrelles were seen swarming. No roost was located where the bats were flying, however, there was a maternity roost of at least 53 common pipistrelles nearby. The next recording, recorded by Esmee, was made at the same time as the recordings of Douwe, but closer to the maternity roost.
Date of recordings: 2024-06-22 Recorded by: Esmee Mooi Audio files: 915347
These calls were recorded in an alleyway busy with activity from the common pipistrelle and the Nathusius' pipistrelle. No roost was found in the area and no roost-indicating behaviour was witnessed.
Date of recording: 2024-06-14 Recorded by: Olivier van Aken Audio file: 913612
There were also no remarkable sightings during the recording of these type C social calls of the common pipistrelle. The recording is made near a school building and near some trees that serve as a foraging area for the common pipistrelles.
These type C social calls of the common pipistrelle were recorded from the street next to a busy foraging area with multiple trees and a small water present. Four bats were seen flying around the trees and circling each other. No roost was found during this survey. During a previous survey in this area (June the 7th), a summer roost was found in the gable of the nearest building where one common pipistrelle visibly entered the building underneath a roof tile.
Type B and a lot of type C social calls. Sadly, no roost was found, but the presence of the type B and some of the warbled qCF type C social calls make it likely that these calls are emitted by stationary bats and that a roost might be located somewhere in the building out of sight. Some type C social calls were emitted in absence of echolocation calls. Perhaps these are isolation calls emitted by youngsters.
These type B and type C social calls were recorded in the vicinity of a maternity roost of common pipistrelle where at least 24 bats were counted entering the roost.
Date of recordings: 2024-06-29 Recorded by: Lisa Vermaning Audio files: 917370 Video footage from: Lisa Vermaning
These recordings were made in the vicinity of a common pipistrelle maternity roost where at least 20 bats were counted entering the roost. Type B as well as type C social calls (including low-frequency qCF warbles) were recorded. Scats were also found on the ground underneath the roost.
Around 2:22 a bat was seen flying three circles around a building. At 02:52, type C social calls (first and second snippit) from a common pipistrelle were recorded. Around 03:58 there were five bats seen foraging in the area next to the building. About 40 minutes later, more type C social calls (third snippit) were recorded.
These type C social calls were recorded near a long line of trees next to the road that serves as a flying route for common pipistrelles. At least 30 common pipistrelles were visually counted (more were heard) either flying from northeast to southwest or vice versa along the line of trees this particular morning. Due to the presence of the flying route, it is highly likely that these type C social calls have a function in tandem flight. The recordings were made at different locations at different times on the same early morning (time of shift: 2:17 - 5:17), as can been seen on the map on the left.
Two type C social calls recorded in the vicinity of foraging common pipistrelles near buildings (feeding buzz also visible):
Date of recording: 2024-07-01 Recorded by: Karlijn Ton Audio file: 917978
More type C social calls recorded in the vicinity of foraging common pipistrelles:
These type B and type C social calls were recorded in an area where common pipistrelle were also seen tapping a possible roost entrance, making it highly likely that the roost was also in use by bats.
These type B and C social calls were recorded in the vicinity of a common pipistrelle roost. An estimate of 30 bats were seen swarming in front of the roost and 7 bats were seen entering the roost. The other bats flew away in the direction towards a roost 75 meters away. At least 13 bats were seen entering that roost about 10 minutes later. This would suggest a maternity colony that split into smaller groups devided over multiple (smaller) roosts.
These type social calls were recorded in the area about 2 hours to 45 minutes before the roost was found:
These type B and type C social calls were recorded near the roost, about 75 meters away from the previous roost, where at least 13 common pipistrelles entered, the same morning. Not all bats entered the roost, some were only tapping the roost entrance and two bats left the roost again at 5:19. Both roosts probably belong to the same maternity group of bats.
These type C social calls were recorded in the area about 2 to 1,5 hours before the roost was found:
And these type C social calls were recorded in the area in the vicinity of foraging common pipistrelles around 5:09, after the first bats already entered their two (known) nearby roosts.
Date of recording: 2024-07-10 Recorded by: Zsuzsanna Szabo Audio file: 922425 Video footage from: Zsuzsanna szabo
These recordings are from another maternity colony of common pipistrelle that devided the group over, at least, two roosts. The roosts are about 15 to 20 meters away from each other, both in their own building. The type B calls were recorded in the vicinity of the roost in the building with house number 150 where 18 bats were seen leaving the roost that evening. The type C social calls were recorded in the vicinity of the roost in the building with house number 146 where 20 bats were seen leaving. This was the fifth survey in this area. During the first survey (May the 17th), 29 bats were seen leaving the roost on house number 150. During the second survey (June 7th), more than 40 bats were seen leaving the roost on house number 146 (911704, 911706, 911707). On the third survey (June 24th), at least 30 bats were seen leaving the roost on house number 146 (916881, 916882, 916883). On the fourth survey (June 29th), at least 20 bats were seen entering the roost on house number 150 (917411, 917413, 917414, 917419, 917417, 917416, 917421) and between 10 to 15 bats were seen entering the roost on house number 146. Two bats were also seen entering a new location on house number 111, about 75 meters away from house number 150.
These recordings contain only type C social calls and no regular echolocation is present. The recordings were made in a regular street of terraced houses / townhouses. No bat was seen flying, but this can't be excluded from being a possibility. The assumtion is that the calls are from a common pipistrelle. Perhaps "isolation calls" from a youngster within a roost.
These type C social calls were recorded while watching common pipistrelles tapping and entering their maternity roost.
These type C social calls were recorded a little distance away (75 meters as the crow flies) from the maternity roost.
Common pipistrelles were foraging above the water surface for a long time, but their activity was getting less and less while getting closer to sunrise. Suddenly, bats passed quickly, flying over the bridge where I was standing, while also emitting these type C social calls.
One more example of type C social calls of common pipistrelle. They were recorded without any significant sightings of the bat's behaviour.
Date of recording: 2024-07-18 Recorded by: Kaia Pieters Audio file: 921893
The first type C social calls of august. Recorded near a foraging area.
Date of recording: 2024-08-07 Recorded by: Kaz Veldtrom Audio file: 926250
Type D social calls are the most commonly known social calls of the common pipistrelle. There are variants of this call with a difference in the number of components.
Very typical four-component versions of the type D social call of an advertising male common pipistrelle:
Date of recording: 2024-08-25 Recorded by: Sanneke de Neeling Audio file: 932495
An example of two five-component versions and one three-component version of the Type D social call:
Date of recording: 2024-09-15 Recorded by: Niels Jansen Audio file: 934344
A series of two-component versions of the type D social call, emitted a short time before the bat entered its roost:
Date of recording: 2024-06-10 Recorded by: Esmee Mooi Audio file: 912063 Video footage from: Esmee Mooi
A three-component version, a one-component version and two two-component versions of the type D social call:
Date of recording: 2024-09-16 Recorded by: Fabienne Schwab Audio file: 935325
Another three-component version of the type D social call:
Date of recording: 2024-05-27 Recorded by: Tessa van der Eng Audio file: 911327
A six-component version of the type D social call:
Date of recording: 2024-09-09 Recorded by: Victor Bonaccorso Audio file: 933072
An eight-component version of the type D social call:
Date of recording: 2024-06-14 Recorded by: Olivier van Aken Audio file: 913612
Another eight-component version of the type D social call:
Date of recording: 2024-08-10 Recorded by: Aielynn Kleian Audio file: 926374
A seven-component version of the type D social call:
Date of recording: 2024-08-05 Recorded by: Niels Jansen Audio file: 925302
Less typical type D call shape, where the first part seems to be joined-up:
Date of recording: 2024-09-08 Recorded by: Sanneke de Neeling Audio file: 932935
A regular type D social calls and another partially joined-up call:
Date of recording: 2024-09-09 Recorded by: Victor Bonaccorso Audio file: 933072
The following snippits contain agonistic behaviour between a Nathusius' pipistrelle and a common pipistrelle. At least two individual common pipistrelles were present. The lower frequency FM-calls are emitted by the Nathusius' pipistrelle two to three component type D social calls are emitted by a common pipistrelle.
An unusual call on the left in comparison to a regular call on the right. Perhaps the components of the social call on the left were more FM-shaped due to the echolocation being for FM-shaped as well? Room for speculation.
Date of recording: 2024-09-17 Recorded by: Thomas Janssen Audio file: 935296
Type D social calls of an advertising bat. There is an interesting call between 7,000s and 7,200s that slightly resembles a feeding buzz. Possibly another FM-components call?
Date of recording: 2024-08-07 Recorded by: Iris van der Horn Audio file: 925842
A short, high frequency social call that occurs after a type D social call can indicate food source defense in foraging common pipistrelles (Götze et al., 2020). Initially, the Type D call is used to claim a resource and to warn conspecifics about this claim. When ignored, the high frequency call is used as a warning that further ignoring might lead to an escalation (Middleton et al., 2020). The following recording is made in an area where three common pipistrelles were seen foraging, as validated by the feeding buzzes in the recording (not shown). The snippit shows the general type D social call (four-component version) and the high frequency social call at 11,863 s.
Date of recording: 2024-06-17 Recorded by: Marinus van der Meulen Audio file: 913914
Autumn has arrived and while we were monitoring a mass-winter roost of common pipistrelles, we noticed roosting sounds: Type B and even a bit of type A. Around 01:53 the roosting sounds increased in volume and at 02:01 a bat emerged from a weep hole in the building.
Type C social calls were recorded during autumn aswell.
Date of recording: 2024-08-19 Recorded by: Timo Boer Audio file: 930252
Date of recording: 2024-08-24 Recorded by: Menoeska Spits Audio file: 930778
Date of recording: 2024-09-17 Recorded by: Gijs Peters Audio file: 935729
Including high frequency social calls:
Date of recording: 2024-08-22 Recorded by: Hubert Matuszewski Audio file: 931610
Date of recording: 2024-10-12 Recorded by: Thomas Kooiman, Boaz van Die Audio file: 940536
All recordings are licensed under the following Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 license and in courtesy of Sarah Mahie.
All the original video footage can be found on our Youtube channel: United by Ecology
All sonograms are screenshots of the recordings imported in the ultrasound analysis software BatExplorer 2.2 (Elekon, Switzerland).
Literature list:
- Jon Russ (2021). Bat Calls of Britain and Europe: a Guide to Species Identification. Pelagic Publishing.
- Neil Middleton, Andrew Froud and Keith French (2022). Social Calls of the Bats of Britain and Ireland (second edition). Pelagic Publishing.
- Simone Götze, Annette Denzinger and Hans-Ulrich Schnitzler (2020). High frequency social calls indicate food source defense in foraging Common pipistrelle bats. Scientific Reports, 10(5764).
Create Your Own Website With JouwWeb