there often clings a tiny sleeping bat. One or more are typically present when I need to retrieve my hidden house key during the summer. Delightful.
Little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus).
At least 40 noses...
are peeking out from the bottom of the bat house as the residents enjoy a pleasant day following a several day long heat wave. They’re wondering why the blood doesn’t rush to my feet as I snap this image.
Little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus).
A properly constructed bat house...
must also be sited appropriately for bats to find and occupy. Bats are fiercely loyal to favorable roosts and will return year after year as the colony grows in number. This two-chambered bat box has been hanging in this location above my back deck, on the south side of the house, for nearly 20 years. Today more than 200 little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) occupy it during the summer, some even giving birth.
Benefits: Fewer insects around the house and each year I gather several pounds of nitrogen-rich bat guano and give to my gardening friends. Sitting on the back deck at dusk and watching them emerge is pretty cool, too.
Hang a bat house. Bats need friends!
This is the volume of guano produced by the occupants of the bat house over the last several months, a clear indication of a large and healthy colony of bats.
My dear late wife, Donna Hensley, was a bat biologist and she compiled the first editions of this authoritative book while working at Bat Conservation International: The Bat House Guide.
Hanging out...
at the bottom of the bat house on a warm afternoon.
Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) enjoying some outdoor ventilation from the hot interior of the bat house. Look closely, there are two other individuals on the back wall. Believe it or not, they will not occupy a shaded bat house as they prefer it hot, a major reason why some bat houses fail to attract bats.
Bats need friends! Here’s a free on-line booklet (.pdf) with plans to build bat houses and it explains how to locate them properly so that bats will find and occupy their new summer home.
Bat lives matter...
because these tiny nocturnal mammals consume enormous quantities of insects, pollinate a variety of plants and widely disperse seeds among other beneficial ecological contributions. Sadly, this little one fell from a bat house and roasted quickly in the sun before I could return it to the box.
Recently born big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), about one inch long.
Unfortunately, superstition and Hollywood have given bats a bad name. Learn more about the wonderful world of bats at Bat Conservation International.
Bats need friends! Here’s a free on-line booklet (.pdf) with plans to build bat houses and it explains how to locate them properly so that bats will find and occupy their new summer home. (My late wife, bat biologist Donna Hensley, compiled the first editions of this handbook, and now has disappeared from the credits. Shame on Merlin Tuttle and BCI. Very unprofessional.)