Batter's Box

Pennsylvania hosts 10 species of bats:

Bats are important for insect control, including mosquitos. The common little brown bat can consume more than 1,000 mosquitos-size insects per hour. To encourage bats in your community, you can provide a home for them. Pictured today is a bat box along the Armstrong Trail, in Armstrong County. Bats are sensitive animals, so to increase the chances of them taking up residency in your newly constructed bat box, consider the following facts:

•  Bats do not like drafts. The entrance slit should be no more than 15-20 mm wide, and there should be no gaps where the sides
   and top join.
•  The wood should be rough sawn and untreated. Bats cannot hang from smooth surfaces, and can be poisoned by any timber
   treatment chemicals. Wooden boxes will last for approximately ten years.
•  Weathered boxes are likely to be more attractive to bats.

Not all bat species will use a bat box; however, to increase the chance of the box being used, locate it at a site where bats are known to feed that is sheltered from strong winds and exposed to the sun for at least part of the day. Hot roost temperatures are important in summer for pregnant and lactating females and their young.

If you are locating boxes in public areas, consider the possibility of vandalism and of the box being accessible to cats. It may take several years for the bats to find the box. Be patient. It is highly unlikely bats will shift their roost from a well-used site (e.g. in a roof) to a newly positioned box. To check if the box is being used, look for droppings below the entrances, listen for ‘chattering' and watch the box for the hour after sunset to observe any bats leaving to feed. For more information, visit the Bat Conservation International website at: http://www.batcon.org.

Today's photo was taken by WPC's Jessica Traister.

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