Birdfeeders

I think more people are starting to understand bats, but there are still lots of misunderstandings about them. Really, bats are harmless animals. Bats do not attack humans. They actually want nothing to do with us. Bats will not give you rabies. Very few bats carry the disease and most sick bats die without ever being near a human. Not only do they present no threat to humans, they are actually quite beneficial. They are voracious insect eaters so keep harmful insects like mosquitos and many agricultural pests in check. They are always looking for a safe place to roost, so bat houses have become very popular. There are real advantages to attracting bats to your area and a bat house is the best way to do this. Depending on where you live, bats will fill up nightly on mosquitoes, moths, cucumber beetles, June bugs, stink bugs, leafhoppers, etc. One brown bat can consume up to a thousand mosquitoes per hour! If you decide to hang a bat house, be sure to put it 15-20 feet high on a tree trunk or side of a building where it will get several hours of sunshine each day. A southern exposure is usually the best.

There are great advantages to attracting bats to your area for they are natural insect zappers. Depending on the season and your location, they fill up nightly on mosquitoes, moths, cucumber beetles, June bugs, stink bugs, leafhoppers, etc. One brown bat can consume up to a thousand mosquitoes per hour! More and more people are discovering the advantages of providing housing for bats. With luck, a bat can live for 20 years, and mature females will have one baby a year for most of their adult life. Bats like to live in old hollow trees, caves or attics. However, there has been a serious reduction of available roosting sites which has led to a decline in bat populations. Therefore, bat houses are essential to help bats and stop this decline. To encourage bats to use bat houses, they should be placed high in trees or high on the side of a house in a sheltered place that gets sun for part of the day.

As you become familiar with what species of birds visit your yard, you can decide what kind of bird house would most likely be used. Among the birds that commonly use bird houses are bluebirds, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, woodpeckers and even some ducks and owls. Bats are quite useful night hunters of insects, so providing bat houses for them is especially useful. By providing housing in our yards, we take a step toward replacing some of the loss of natural habitats. As time goes on, there are fewer and fewer dead or hollow trees, piles of brush, etc. which are prime nesting spots. If you plan on adding a bird house or bat house to your yard, now is a good time. The local birds will see the new addition as something strange at first, but over the winter and early spring, it will begin to look like a natural part of the environment and have a better chance of being occupied in the spring.

While there’s a lot of negative stigma that goes around about bats, in truth, bats are some of the most beneficial creatures to have in your backyard.  Most bats feed on harmful insects, and even a few bats can reduce the population of harmful insects in a small area by a significant amount.  It can be difficult to attract bats to a backyard, but it’s easier than one might think.  Chances are, bats already frequent your backyard; if you’ve ever seen a shape flitting around in the air at night, there’s a good chance it was a bat.  Most birds sleep during the nighttime hours.  You can attract bats to your backyard by placing numerous bat houses in shady corners around the yard.  These bat houses should be in dark and cool places, and should also be away from pets, people, and other sources that might cause sleeping bats irritation. Once you’ve put up a few bat houses in your backyard, you need only wait until the bats come and decide to stay. 

Once you have bats nesting in the bat houses, you can enjoy the benefits of having a yard with far fewer pesky insects.  Bats are also a lot of fun to watch during the nighttime hours, especially for kids. 

Bats seem to be among the most misunderstood of creatures. All kinds of silly tales are told about bats, when in fact, they are a great help to us. Bats eat enormous quantities of insects every night. That’s why it is to our benefit to have bats as residents in a bat house nearby. Let’s put a stop to some of these myths. Bats are not blind, although they mostly navigate by echolocation. They emit squeaks, clicks and other sounds, creating sound waves that bounce off objects in their path. Bats are not attracted to your hair. The common brown bat can actually detect a human hair three feet away. Bats rarely carry rabies. It is true that any wild animal that can be caught may be sick so always err on the side of caution and don’t handle bats or other animal you may catch. Bat droppings are not harmful to your health any more than those of cats or birds. You shouldn’t inhale any of them. And lastly, putting up a bat house in your yard will not attract bats to your attic. If your attic would make a good bat house, they are probably already there!

The big brown bat is about 4.5 inches long and has a wingspan of about 12 inches, so is somewhat larger than the little brown bat. It can be found in Canada and in most of the United States, except the southern parts of Florida and Texas. After the little brown bat, these are the most likely to occupy your bat house. They sometimes overwinter in bat houses as far north as New York. These bats feed on a variety of insects, swooping over meadows and pasture land and among trees and streetlights of cities and towns. Big brown bats mate in fall and winter and produce one or two young a year, in late May or early June. Choose carefully where you put up a bat house for they may abandon a roost if the temperature rises above 95 degrees.

Mexican free-tailed bats will be the most common resident of your bat house if you live in the southern and southwestern United States. They are found as far north as Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Oregon in the summer and then migrate to Mexico and Central America in the winter. They have large ears, sharp teeth, a wingspan of as much as 12 inches and tails that extend beyond the membrane that connects legs and tail. They only seem to use a bat house that is mounted on a building or high pole and ignore a bat house mounted on a tree. Females bear one young per season, most commonly in late May or early June. As with other bats, Mexican free-tails eat enormous quantities of insects, but they eat mostly moths.

Little brown bats are the most common bat house resident in the northern states and most of Canada. These bats are about three and half inches long with a wingspan of about eight inches and range in color from brown or reddish brown to gray. They are often seen hunting insects in the late afternoon or early evening as well as at night. Since they are voracious mosquito eaters, they are quite a welcome addition to any area. Little brown bats often roost during the summer in buildings near rivers, lakes or marshes where they can fill up on aquatic insects. They mate in the fall, then hibernate, typically producing one young in June or July, which is weaned and flying in 3-4 weeks. These bats are somewhat more heat tolerant than others and can raise their young in temperatures as high as 104 degrees. Hang a bat house as high as possible on the side of a house or tree. Once you have an occupied bat house, putting up multiple bat houses seems to attract many bats to the same area.

Bats don’t build their own nesting spots. They just find a warm, dark place to hang such as caves, abandoned buildings, barns, dead trees, etc. Unfortunately, these kinds of places are disappearing and as a result, various bat species are now endangered. Why is this important? Well, bats are natural insect zappers. They gorge themselves nightly on mosquitoes, moths, cucumber beetles, June bugs, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, etc. One little brown bat consumes 500 insects PER HOUR! The fewer bats in the world, the more dependent we will become on toxic insecticides. It is certainly a benefit to have a bat house on your property. The bat house doesn’t have to be big to attract bats, but where it is located is important. The location of the bat house in relation to the sun is important for bats are quite sensitive to variations in temperature. In northern areas, be sure the bat house gets at least 4 hours of sun a day. In the south, shade and cooler temperatures are necessary in the summer. If the bat house is placed within a quarter mile of a stream, river or lake, it will likely attract bats because of the concentration of insects in these areas. Also, the higher up the bat house is, the more likely it will be used. Put it on a 15-20 foot pole, on a tree or high on the side of a building, always being aware of sun exposure.

People are so ignorant about bats. They think that they are pests that should be exterminated, but those people are wrong - bats are our friends. They are here to help us, not to cause us harm. Bats are just like birds in that they need safe and secure shelters in which to bear their young. Without these shelters bats are likely to slowly die off because humans are taking up all of their natural habitats.

Because bats prefer to spend most of their time in caves, it’s important to create a bat house that looks and feels like a cave. That means it must be dark and quiet. Hosting bats in your yard will help get the bat population back on track. You’ll feel a little bit better about making a positive difference in your local endangered animal population. You may even choose to teach your children about bats!