BARRHEAD – County residents’ opinions about bats has been changing from getting rid of them off their properties to finding ways to attract them.
“Bats are really important to both our ecosystem and our economy,” said ALUS representative Lisa Card, also known around the county as the bat expert.
“A lot of people think about the pest control that bats do, not just in terms of mosquitoes but also agricultural pests.”
“There have been a lot of studies that show bats provide a free ecosystem service of literally billions of dollars every year.”
Bats have been attributed to saving almond production by eating the moths and worms.
More county landowners are putting up bat houses to attract bats and benefit from their feeding on pests.
There are more calls to the County at this time of year because the pups are learning to fly and they sometimes get themselves in trouble.
They can be found landing on the sides of buildings or on the ground near where residents frequent.
People are concerned sometimes when the pups are found against people’s houses.
Calls also increase towards end of August and the beginning of September when they start migrating.
Bats will find anywhere to literally hang out at night.
The County can talk a resident through determining whether it is a rescue situation or not.
Like any wild animal, people should not try to handle a bat or move it yourself.
If a person is really concerned, they can contact Fish and Wildlife according to Card.
It is common around Barrhead, Westlock and Athabasca to see bats at dusk if they look up at the sky.
Unfortunately, there are times when people do not know they have bats until many bats have gathered.
There are trained professionals to remove bat colonies safely.
One of the bats that are quite common in the area the Little Brown Myotis.
It is an endangered species. Their populations have been diminished because of white noise syndrome.
They are especially precious and need to be treated with care, said Card.
Card said that the best scenario is to avoid disturbing the bats while they're roosting.
Removing bats is not an easy task. It requires repeated actions to remove a whole colony.
Putting up a bat house is also not going to get resident bats to move out of their current safe place to move into the bat house according to Card.
You can put up bat houses any time during the year, but it may take some time before the bats start to use them.
Bats use the bat houses from April to September.
Card said that once the bats migrate a resident could seal up where they were roosting and when they return to find the previous roost closed, they would possibly roost in the bat houses.
There are several bat house plans, and some are better than others.
Card prefers four-chamber nursery bat houses.
They are not the easiest to build and are not the plans that will be used at a bat house workshop in Vimy scheduled for Aug. 25.
There have been studies to look at different bat house colours and what bats might prefer – it all just kind of depends on the summer we're having, Card said.
A black bat house on a south facing wall might be too hot. Card said dark colours are best and brown might be best.
The height of bat houses can vary from seven feet off the ground to 15 feet high.
Card said installing bat houses on the side of a barn or a taller shed is a good idea.
Putting bat houses in trees provides the potential for predators like owls or squirrels to take out the bats. Tall poles are another option, and two bat houses can be put back-to-back.
Bats are not territorial so bats in different bat houses won’t fight with each other, she added.
If a bat house has been up for a couple years and no bats move in, then the location may not be warm enough or there might be a breeze that affects the temperature in the bat house, as bats like a warm environment and can fit into spaces smaller than a pinky finger width, said Card.
There are on-going studies collecting data to see all of what bugs they're eating.
If anyone happens to know about a bat colony on their property they can give Card a call at the County of Barrhead office.
Card is collecting bat guano samples and sending them into the Alberta Community Bat Program doing studies.
There are several guides and information available on the Alberta Community Bat Program website.
