All About Bats

One of the best indicators of a healthy environment in your own backyard is the presence of bats. 70% of all bat species are insectivores, including the majority of North American bats. Attracting bats to your backyard can help control the pests that plague you during the spring and summer months. A single small bat can capture 1200 mosquitoes an hour! They will also seek out beetles, moths and leafhoppers.

Erecting a bat house is one way to help attract bats to your yard. Bat houses can be placed on a tree, pole or building and should be mounted at least 15 – 20 feet high. Two bat houses placed back to back on a pole provide the greatest chance of attracting bats. You can put up a new bat house anytime of year, however, houses put up in early spring have the best chance of occupancy during their first summer. Inspecting your bat house can help determine if it is being occupied. This can be accomplished by shining a strong flashlight up into the house to look for bats. This should only be done once a week since frequent disturbances will cause the colony to abandon a roosting site. Another way to see if bats are present is to watch the house around sunset. Bats will begin leaving the house half an hour before sunset to forage for insects.

To encourage bats to visit your yard and occupy the new homes you have provided for them, try planting flowers that release scent at night, such as evening primrose, nicotiana and sweet rocket. These plants will attract night-flying insects, such as moths, that feed on nectar. Herbs such as lemon balm, chives, mint and borage also attract night-flying insects. One of the best attractants for bats is water. Having a body of water on your property, even a small man-made pond, is vital for most insects to reproduce. Bats naturally forage over ponds, streams and rivers and will eat the insects as they emerge from the water.

It is important to consider providing chemical free habitats for bats to occupy. Since bats consume mass quantities of insects, it’s best not to use pesticides, herbicides, or other toxic chemicals in your yard. These substances can cause bats (and insect-eating birds) to become ill or die after ingesting insects that have been sprayed by pollutants.

Wild Class offers a variety of quality Bat Homes and you can learn more by reading the Bird Watcher’s Digest booklet Understanding Bats.