Wait a minute. You're going to tell me how to attract bats into my yard? The things that fly in your hair and suck your blood?
Well, bats don't fly into anybody's hair and unless you are a Holstein grazing in South America they won't be sucking your blood either. And a single foraging bat will gobble thousands of mosquitoes in a night.
For decades Europeans have practiced insect control with backyard bat boxes, small wooden shelters similar to birdhouses where bats roost. Once established a bat colony can help cripple a local mosquito population.
Not only are bat colonies an ecologically friendly alternative to pesticides but they complement today's organic gardens. Droppings that fall out of a bat house provide excellent fertilizer, high in nitrogen. Unlike electronic bug zappers, bats don't frighten birds from your yard.
And bats need homes. Natural roosts such as caves and hollow tree trunks are increasingly scarce. The average suburban tree does not yield many good places to roost to the inquisitive bypassing bat. Vigilant park workers sever rotten tree limbs and clear hollow and fallen trees in the interests of public safety.
Where is a shelter-seeking bat to turn? "Many bats favor old buildings because they offer nooks and crannies for roosting," says Paul Gorenzel of the University of California-Davis, "but new construction is tighter and doesn't provide good homes." Colonies containing many thousands of free-tailed bats can be found living in buildings or under bridges.
Backyard bat houses are popular alternative roosts. Today the Bat Conservation International of Austin, Texas reports more requests for bat houses than frantic calls about rabid bats. (Few bats contract rabies and if they do, quickly die when sick. Even when rabid these shy animals rarely become aggressive.)
Homeowners extending an invitation to bats will be most successful if their bat house is located near a permanent source of water. Bat houses can be mounted, ideally 20 feet high, on trees or poles but houses attached to building sides provide greater temperature stability. The entrance should be free of obstructions to enable bats to access their new home easily.
A new bat host must be patient waiting for his guests. A year to 18 months is a typical waiting period for a bat colony to roost. Most species are migratory, seeking suitable caves to hibernate through the winter. Hanging a bat house in the fall or winter can prompt occupancy the following spring when migrating bats return.
The little brown bat is the most likely bat to occupy your bat box. This voracious insectivore will feed on aquatic insects, sometimes catching as many as 600 mosquitoes an hour in their wings as they dart through the night sky. The little brown bat often shares its roost with its close relative, the big brown bat. The big brown bat is extremely hardy and can remain active year. It favors beetles for its evening meal.
For more information on bats and bat houses visit the Bat Conservation International at www.batcon.org. For a small donation of any size you will receive a booklet on bat basics and a set of house-building plans.
copyright 2006
I am the author of over 20 books, including 8 on hiking with your dog, including the widely praised The Canine Hiker's Bible. As publisher of Cruden Bay Books, we produce the innovative A Bark In The Park series of canine hiking books found at http://www.hikewithyourdog.com During the warm months I lead canine hikes as tour leader for hikewithyourdog.com tours, leading packs of dogs and humans on day and overnight trips. My lead dog is Katie, a German Shepherd-Border Collie mix, who has hiked in all of the Lower 48 states and is on a quest to swim in all the great waters of North America - http://web.mac.com/crudbay/iWeb/Katies%20Blog/Katies%20Quest.html I am currently building a hikewithyourdog.com tours trailer to use on our expeditions and its progress can be viewed at http://web.mac.com/crudbay/iWeb/Teardrop%20Trailer/Building%20A%20Tour%20Trailer.html
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