Conserving our winged friends: ‘Bat Week’ coming soon

Bat houses are a great alternative for bats you need to evict from your home, but they do require some maintenance in the late fall or winter. (VTF&W photo)

Bats are busy this time of year, and it’s not because of Halloween. Vermont has nine native bat species, and summer groups of bats that roost in buildings begin to scatter in the fall, in preparation for migration or hibernation, according to state wildlife officials. They say it’s an important time for conservation-minded Vermonters to learn about and help conserve these creatures, which play an important role in the region’s ecosystem. 

If you have noticed bats roosting in your attic, barn, or office over the summer, fall is the perfect time to safely evict these uninvited guests from your property. You can learn how to safely evict bats from your building at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s best management practices page.

You can also help bat conservation efforts by reporting large colonies of bats living in structures to the department’s website. Locations with rare colonies of one of our endangered species, the little brown bat, are eligible for free bat houses from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

Bat houses provide an alternative location for safely evicted bats to remain in your yard and continue eating huge quantities of insects that may be forest, agricultural, or human pests, according to wildlife officials. Bat houses can be put up any time of year but do require some simple maintenance. Late fall or winter is the time to look up inside your bat house and make sure all the bats have left before cleaning out any abandoned wasp nests and planning any needed caulking or repainting.

“Fall also means Halloween, and scary images of bats, but this presents an opportunity to bring positive attention to bats as well,” state biologist Alyssa Bennett said in a statement. “So, we celebrate ‘Bat Week’ in the days leading up to Halloween.” Bat Week takes place Oct. 24-31 and aims to raise awareness about the vital ecological function of bats and to dispel the many myths and misinformation about them, officials said.

This year, Bennett will be giving a public talk about Vermont’s nine native bat species at the Intervale Center in Burlington. You can register for the talk on the department’s events page.  Anyone interested in learning more can visit the official Bat Week website at www.BatWeek.org, or email Alyssa.Bennett@vermont.gov for more information about what they can do right here in Vermont to promote bat conservation.

“Vermont is home to several species of threatened and endangered bats that we are working to conserve and recover — we hope Vermonters will support these efforts and come to enjoy seeing bats in their natural environment,” Bennett added. “Bats are a very important part of our natural world and now, more than ever, they need our help.”

— Gareth Henderson