Bats in Pennsylviana headed toward extinction, 99% decline, from white-nose syndrome
(I wonder if this is closely related to climate warming, so the fungus grows more).
https://thompson.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/99-decline-pa-bat-populations-local-nursery-working-enhance-conservation
With the Pennsylvania bat population threatened, Howard Nursery is making more bat boxes than ever before. On Saturday, Nov 16, the nursery will host an event to promote conservation of these “good neighbors.”
At 1:30 p.m., the nursery, joined by U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard Township, will install a bat house — a chambered box that mimics the crevices in trees or caves where bats like to roost — on its grounds at 197 Nursery Road. These houses provide bats with a place to hibernate and have their young.
Among the nearly 40 bat species living in the United States, eight are commonly found in Pennsylvania; however, many have decimated as a result of white-nose syndrome — a fungal disease that affects hibernating bats that surfaced in Pennsylvania during 2008. According to Mario Giazzon, a Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife diversity biologist, white nose syndrome has led to a 99% decrease in bat populations.
Earlier this year, the northern long-eared bat, tri-colored bat and little brown bat joined the Indiana bat and small-footed bat on the state’s list of threatened and endangered species.
“Bats play an important role in native ecosystems by pollinating plants, dispersing seeds and eating agricultural pests that destroy crops and harm the economy,” U.S. Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt said in a statement. “Unfortunately, white-nose syndrome is destroying native bat populations at unprecedented rates.”
https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/static-page/what-is-white-nose-syndrome
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease that affects hibernating bats and is caused by a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, or Pd for short. Sometimes Pd looks like a white fuzz on bats’ faces, which is how the disease got its name. Pd grows in cold, dark and damp places. It attacks the bare skin of bats while they’re hibernating in a relatively inactive state. As it grows, Pd causes changes in bats that make them become active more than usual and burn up fat they need to survive the winter. Bats with white-nose syndrome may do strange things like fly outside in the daytime in the winter.
How to Build a Bat House
https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/Cover/Build-a-Bat-House
(On how to build a bat house by Carla Brown, National Wildlife Federation)
First I printed a bat house construction plan from Bat Conservation International's website. According to their website, a successful bat house can be smaller (14 inches wide).
I read over the plan and I found that I needed a location with:
lots of sun;
at least 15 feet off the ground (to protect against predators); and
ideally a water source nearby (so the mother bat doesn't have to leave her young for too long).
Interestingly, bats are less attracted to bat houses mounted on trees. There's a few reasons for this:
It's too easy for predators to get bats as they exit
The branches causing obstructions to exiting bats which drop down then up into flight
It's too shady from branches above.
