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Sunday, August 17, 2014

Where Are Our Bats?

We are wondering where our bats are. We have a bat house under the eves and we have had bats every year up until this year. These little guys have a lot of myths written about them, but these mammals are clean and very efficient insect eaters. They especially like mosquitos. A bat can eat a tremendous volume of mosquitos in a single night. We usually have 4-6 bats but so far this year we have not seen any. Fortunately we have a large population of birds that are picking up the slack but they are not as efficient as the bat is.
Bats have a tough life. They seem to gravitate to caves and such. If the white nosed disease doesn't get them cave collapse can. Then there are those that seal the entrances to caves trapping them inside to die. Life can be tough for a bats.

These beneficial mammals are much needed for all the good they do. Nectar feeding bats help with pollination in addition to other bats controlling the insect population. We miss our bats and seeing them go out at dusk and return in the early morning.

2 comments:

Bruce said...

After writing this I just observed one lone bat at dawn heading to the bat cave under the eve of the house. Finally we have at least one bat..

Mr Scrat said...

We live in the NC Smokey Mountains. Recent years have shown fewer bats. There were a few this spring and early summer but none over the last month. Discouraged and concerned with this beautiful animal's plight.