Bats in your belfry, bats in your attic, what a catastrophe, call in the exterminators. For such a small animal, 10 cm (4”) long, bats have an infamous reputation for being able to do something terrible. However, I am not sure just what.
The bat we know best is the little brown bat, the most common of our flying mammals. There are others. The northern long-eared bat, the silver-haired bat and the hoary bat all spend at least seven months of the year in the Ottawa Valley. The latter three have been seen less than five times in this area, which does not mean they are rare only seldom seen.
The silver-haired and the hoary migrate out of the country for the winter. The brown and the long-eared move into winter quarters, usually in caves and mines where temperatures stay above freezing. It is unfortunate that bats have such a bad reputation. They eat half their weight in insects each day. Few people have seen a bat and fewer still have had any contact with them. Bats feed at night and avoid any animal that might use it for food, people are included in the " animals to be avoided category".
Bats have many unique abilities. They are the only mammals that can fly. Their wings consist of a thin membrane, rather than feathers, that stretches from the hind feet to the special bones in the forearm. Bats are able to fly in total darkness by sending out high-pitched sound waves whose echoes make perfect sense to them. This "echo location system" allows them to catch their prey and yet avoid colliding with solid objects.
The old adage "blind as a bat" is false. Bats are indeed able to see. When a bat's sensory system makes contact with a moth (gypsy or codling) or other large flying insect, the bat approaches its prey and scoops it into a pouch formed by the wing membrane which extends between the hind feet and the tail. The prey is then passed to the mouth and eaten while the bat is still in flight.
Female bats give birth to a single young each year. For the first few days the mother carries her young on foraging trips. The youngster is strung across her breast, its front feet grasping the hair in one armpit and nursing from a teat in the other.
There is no doubt that accumulations of bat dung can cause respiratory problems in humans and therefore bats should not be allowed to live in the attics of our homes. To get rid of the bats using pesticides and insecticides can be more dangerous than the problems created by the bats. There are better ways to get the bats to move out of your home and into one of their own. In this way we can still benefit from the bats ability to destroy harmful insects.
The best way to get the bats to move is to find the holes where they are getting into your house and cover them with heavy screening. Wait until the bats leave for a hunting excursion at night before covering the holes. Place a bat house nearby so that the animals have shelter.
Contact Jim if you would like plans to build a bat house.
Photos by Clayton Rollins
The bat we know best is the little brown bat, the most common of our flying mammals. There are others. The northern long-eared bat, the silver-haired bat and the hoary bat all spend at least seven months of the year in the Ottawa Valley. The latter three have been seen less than five times in this area, which does not mean they are rare only seldom seen.
The silver-haired and the hoary migrate out of the country for the winter. The brown and the long-eared move into winter quarters, usually in caves and mines where temperatures stay above freezing. It is unfortunate that bats have such a bad reputation. They eat half their weight in insects each day. Few people have seen a bat and fewer still have had any contact with them. Bats feed at night and avoid any animal that might use it for food, people are included in the " animals to be avoided category".
Bats have many unique abilities. They are the only mammals that can fly. Their wings consist of a thin membrane, rather than feathers, that stretches from the hind feet to the special bones in the forearm. Bats are able to fly in total darkness by sending out high-pitched sound waves whose echoes make perfect sense to them. This "echo location system" allows them to catch their prey and yet avoid colliding with solid objects.
The old adage "blind as a bat" is false. Bats are indeed able to see. When a bat's sensory system makes contact with a moth (gypsy or codling) or other large flying insect, the bat approaches its prey and scoops it into a pouch formed by the wing membrane which extends between the hind feet and the tail. The prey is then passed to the mouth and eaten while the bat is still in flight.
Female bats give birth to a single young each year. For the first few days the mother carries her young on foraging trips. The youngster is strung across her breast, its front feet grasping the hair in one armpit and nursing from a teat in the other.
There is no doubt that accumulations of bat dung can cause respiratory problems in humans and therefore bats should not be allowed to live in the attics of our homes. To get rid of the bats using pesticides and insecticides can be more dangerous than the problems created by the bats. There are better ways to get the bats to move out of your home and into one of their own. In this way we can still benefit from the bats ability to destroy harmful insects.
The best way to get the bats to move is to find the holes where they are getting into your house and cover them with heavy screening. Wait until the bats leave for a hunting excursion at night before covering the holes. Place a bat house nearby so that the animals have shelter.
Contact Jim if you would like plans to build a bat house.
Photos by Clayton Rollins
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