Providing backup for bats
Bat boxes offer special habitat across the province
Heather Haughn, chapter leader of the South Shore Young Naturalists Club, asked her seven-year-old daughter, Zayla, “What is good about bats?”
“Well, do you like musquitoes? I don't. And they (bats) eat them,” was her daughter's reply.
Zayla Haughn Stevens is a big fan of bats.
“They are cool. And they eat mosquitoes. And they save all the apple trees and stuff. I have two apple trees and sometimes with other trees I see around here they get lots of insects on them. And if the bats were closer to here, they could eat the insects trying to kill my trees,” the young naturalist said recently.
The Young Naturalists
Club is a chapter-based program for families interested in Nova Scotia's natural history.
The South Shore chapter has joined a province-wide effort by the Young Naturalists Club of Nova Scotia to promote the construction and placement of wooden boxes, called bat boxes, designed to provide bats with habitat during the summer.
Haughn said the South Shore group has one bat box available to be given to a family in the region who wants to place it on their property or in a location where bats would benefit from the habitat conservation effort.
“In southwestern Nova Scotia there has been an increase in the bat population. So, it's a good time to try and give them some place to stay,” Haughn said during an interview.
Biologists and naturalists have been concerned that bat species in the province have declined in number in recent years.
“Everything is connected. We only have one earth and often when a species is gone, they are gone for good. So, we have to do what we can to protect them and learn about them.
The more you learn the more you realize how important they are and interconnected they are,” Haughn said.
Work to preserve bat habitat is also underway in the Annapolis Valley by
the Annapolis Valley Bat Box Project. The non-profit is focused on the construction and placement of bat boxes as well as education and research. It was founded by two Acadia University undergrads, Zackery Pate and Taryn Muldoon.
Pate said bats had undergone an image makeover in recent years.
“Bats want to be in your hair just as little as you want them in your hair. And there are no vampire bats in the area," Pate said.
“They are essential creatures.
“They take down pests, lots of disease-spreading bugs. They are the only single pollinator for lots of species of plants.
“Bats are essentially large mammal bees. They serve a very important purpose for the ecosystem they are in.”
Pate said the project has purchased more than 100 temperature and humidity monitors to install in bat boxes and obtain data to determine what ecological zones are important to conserve for bats.
PROVIDING
The group is also researching optimal bat box designs he hopes will aid bat conservation in Western Canada, where White-nose Syndrome, a deadly fungus, is not as prevalent yet.
“We can start giving that information to bat conservationists on the west coast and say these are the best bat boxes. So, they can set out bat boxes that may be White-nose Syndrome free,” Pate said.
Lori Phinney is a species at risk biologist at the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute (MTRI) in Kempt, Queens County.
According to Phinney, bat populations in the province were at an alltime low between 2011 and 2013 when White-nose Syndrome spread to Nova Scotia. Recent population trends from 2018 and 2019 showed numbers of three bat species remain low relative to 20052006 estimates.
“Bat populations will not rebound quickly from such drastic declines so the potential for recovery is years away. Local bat species typically only produce one pup per year which means it will take many years if bat populations make a comeback for us to see them like we once did,” Phinney said.
“Since the once most common species of bats in Nova Scotia became endangered due to White-nose Syndrome, there has been a renewed sense of appreciation for these captivating creatures,” Phinney added.
“Wildlife need places to live and that is no different for bats,” Phinney said. “However, we have a unique relationship with bats where we are often closely sharing our barns, sheds and attics with them.
“During the summer, female bats gather at sites like these to raise their pups which can take about a month for them to become independent as they feed on their mother’s milk and learn to fly.”
Phinney said bat boxes had become a popular means for landowners to attract bats to their property.
“These structures can provide essential habitat for bats as they find the perfect spot to spend the day until they come out at night to feed on thousands of insects, Phinney said.
“Bat boxes serve as not only their house for the day but protect from the elements and a key spot to raise young.”
Phinney said more research is being done through a Canada-wide project using community science to learn more about the effectiveness of bat boxes as a habitat for bats in our climate and our native species.
MTRI is looking for more reports of bats in hopes of finding persisting colonies.
“If you see a bat, report it to the website www.batconservation.ca or call 1-833-434-2287,” Phinney said.