GOING BATTY
Port Morien Wildlife Association applying for funding for several projects
Port Morien Wildlife Association wants to install bat houses in Cape Breton.
Members of a local wildlife association say there is nothing batty about this project at all — the group is concerned about the ecosystem.
“There are a lot of people worried about what’s going on with the bat population,” said Stan Peach, treasurer of the Port Morien Wildlife Association.
Peach said the association is applying for a $20,000 Nova Scotia Wildlife Habitat Fund grant for two projects, including to build and install bat houses in various locations across Cape Breton.
Peach said bats have been dying due to white nose syndrome.
The disease, which comes from a fungus, leaves a white ring around a bat’s nose, ears or wings.
“Since it was first discovered in 2009, five million bats have died in 29 (U.S.) states and five Canadian provinces,” Peach said. “We are told the disease has made its way into Nova Scotia.”
He said people are noticing a decline in the bat population and they’ve had requests for the houses from Lake Ainslie, Grand Mira and communities in the Cape Breton Highlands.
“People have an interest in finding out what’s going on with the bats.”
Peach said bats are extremely useful since they eat four times their weight in insects.
“They eat the crop infesting kind of insects. To lose bats would be devastating, they contribute a big part to our ecosystem.”
Terry Power, wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources in Cape Breton, said white nose syndrome in bats was confirmed in all counties in Cape Breton in the
past four years.
“The Department of Natural Resources continues to monitor this disease through surveys, reports from the public and submission of dead and diseased bats for detailed necropsy to determine the cause of death.”
Power said the syndrome has caused a severe decline in bat numbers throughout North America and, although it was late arriving in Cape Breton, bat numbers have declined steeply here since 2014.
As well Peach said there has also been information pointing to a decline in the loon population that is believed mainly to be caused by shoreline development.
“Development is the big contributing factor, it is disturbing the nesting areas and loons are not laying as many eggs.”
Peach said the association would also use grant money to build common loon nesting platforms.
“The idea is making anchored platforms for loons to nest offshore.”
Natural Resources wildlife biologist Terry Power said common loons nest on freshwater lakes throughout Nova Scotia and are most abundant on lakes that support healthy fish populations.
“Unable to walk well on land, loons nest along lake shores, on islands within lakes or on mounds of vegetation in shallow water,” he said. “Shoreline development may destroy nesting habitat along lake shores. Motorized boat traffic on lakes can cause disturbance to nesting loons and waves from the wake of passing boats may flood the nest.”
Power said artificial floating platforms constructed for nesting loons have met with some success.
Nova Scotians wishing to contribute to loon conservation may take part in the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey which is co-ordinated by Bird Studies Canada at http://www.birdscanada.org/volunteer/clls/.
Peach said the association has also applied for a $12,000 grant through the Nova Scotia Sports Fishing Habitat Fund for its Fish Friends project which sees aquariums set up in local school where the students hatch fish eggs and later help release them into waterways.
“If you would see the kids faces, the look on their face watching the fish develop from an egg to a fry and caring for them to the stage they can be released into the river.”
He said they have an outdoor hatchery but the money would also allow for an incubator to be set up inside the association’s facility at Sand Lake. When hatched the fish are distributed in local waterways.