Each year thousands of bats die in and around the rotating blades of wind-turbines, mostly at night and mostly when flying insects, a primary bat food, are present.
At NRG, Brogan saw a need within the wind-turbine industry for a way to monitor bats that interact with wind-turbines. While NRG had partnered with Bat Conservation International to develop an ultrasonic bat deterrence system, much more information about bat activity around turbines was needed. In 2020, Brogan struck out on his own, intent on collecting just that information.
He founded Wildlife Imaging Systems in a small office off Mechanicsville Road to provide the kind of in-depth bat-monitoring service that wind developer companies like NRG needed.
Currently, Wildlife Imaging Systems is moving into new digs next to Carpenter-Carse Library. Brogan and his three employees continue work on more than a dozen projects internationally, with over 100 technology installations. Business has been good – and the reason has been, well, the bats. Wildlife Imaging Systems’ unique technology allows for monitoring of bats, revealing how and when they feed, and, in particular, how they behave around wind-turbines.
Most recently, Wildlife Imaging Systems signed a contract for a new offshore wind project off the coast of Denmark, slated to begin this summer.
But the ‘bread and butter’ of the business is about bats, and all things batty.
Bats are the only true flying mammal. Their wings are a thin skin that is supported by their fingers, which is how their biological order, chiroptera, actually got its name, meaning ‘wind hand.’

How long do bats hibernate? While some bats hibernate, the bat species that most commonly come into conflict with wind turbines are actually long-distance migrants. While they spend their summers in northern regions, they winter in the warm climates of the southwest U.S. and Central America.
When exactly are they most active? Bats come out around sunset and are back home in their roost by sunrise. While bats can see, they use their unique sense of echolocation to forage for the insects that they eat.
Does strong wind reduce the presence of bats? Flying in high winds requires bats to expend additional energy, so they try to stay out of high winds.
What exactly do they feed on? The vast majority of bats in North America, and all the bats here In Vermont, feed on insects. Every night bats can forage on thousands of Insects, eating up to their body weight in insects. This helps foresters and farmers protect their crops from pests.
A picture is worth a thousand… bats
At the heart of WIS is software that processes thermal imaging video technology. Thermal cameras record heat energy rather than light, making them the perfect tool for monitoring nocturnal wildlife. This kind of imaging allows for precise measurement of bat activity over time. WIS’s software transforms thousands of hours of video into bat activity data. That means they know exactly when the bats are showing up and how long they are spending at the turbine. The data revealed by the software is interesting – particularly to wind development companies, which must minimize the turbines’ impact on bats. And the images themselves are just as interesting. Kind of like an etch-a-sketch on steroids.
One image produced by WIS represents ten minutes of bat activity, providing metrics on flight patterns, time of night, and numbers of bats present, among other things. The data produced, in turn, helps determine the optimal location of bat-deterrence systems and when to turn them on. The data is also helpful when scheduling turbines for shut down.
“Hinesburg, we have a problem?”
The open office space at WIS is jammed with monitors, computers and high-tech video. Kind of like a mini-mission control for NASA, but where bats are tracked instead of spaceships. If and when somebody has a problem with bats and turbines, Brogan hopes WIS will be their first call.
Brogan hopes the monitoring systems WIS develops will allow turbines to keep turning and protect bats at the same time.

