Bat House Forum

[Joe Spencer]

I use leftover pieces of doug fir plywood which doesn't decay.  Sometimes I put an edge on them so the guano doesn't wash away and a few small drain holes for the water.  I've also used bent and broken (but still usable for this purpose) heap fiberglass window screens.   Good luck on occupancy.  Houses as handsome and creatively designed such as these, must be occupied!  Are you listening myotis!

[Terry Lobdell]

Dave, I've used rubbermaid tub lids in areas around my home where it can be hidden by the surrounding grass or weeds. I think flat stones work well and keep the site natural looking.

[Dave Miller]

Dave, I've used rubbermaid tub lids in areas around my home where it can be hidden by the surrounding grass or weeds. I think flat stones work well and keep the site natural looking.

Terry, the flat stone idea is perfect - natural and very unlikely to be disturbed.  Also can be stepped on.  I will rummage through my stone piles for some good ones.

[Dave Miller]

I made a trip out to the refuge yesterday 7/27/08 to do some watering and to check the bat houses.  Great news - the first bat house had 1 bat (big brown?), and there were a few droppings below the other house although I could not see any bats in the house.   The droppings looked to be little brown, which is the most common species in our area.

I also placed some flat rocks below the houses to catch the droppings.

Here are a few photos:



In this out-of-focus shot of the 1st bat house, the bat is in the 2nd crevice (from the outside/top), on the right.  While I was taking this photo, the bat decided to urinate and got some on the camera lens.  Guess he didn't like having his photo taken.  Note also the droppings caught in a spiderweb at the left side of this same crevice.  The dark objects in the other crevices are wasp nests.  There are tons of wasps in this area so I was expecting some wasps, they are no big deal.



The second bat house, with a woodpecker above it, and a purple martin or tree swallow up at the top of the tree.  Purple martins are very rare in this area, and I believe this may be one of just a handful of places on this side of the cascade mountains where they are nesting in a natural cavity.  Elsewhere on the refuge they have put up "bird bottles" for the purple martins and they are using those.



Silhouette shot of the tree at sunset.  As you can see, the tree is quite huge.   From this angle the bat house looks like it is practically on the ground, but the grass is very tall (about 7 feet) and the ground slopes down toward the creek.



Up at the top of the tree, mom arrives with dinner, while two other birds (either tree swallows or fledgeling purple martins?) rest on nearby branches.

[Erik]

Great pictures Dave! Even with the blurry bat, they look great. Good luckI I am sure you will get more bats in time. My nursery roost had 2 bats in the first year, more than 80 in the followin year and 235 in the third year. So, fingers crossed and thumbs up. :thumbsup1:

[Dave Miller]

Here is some lousy video I took early this evening of a bat in one of the houses.  I did not have a tripod with me and I was leaning into the sticker bushes so it was tough to keep the camera still.  I could only see the bat in "nightshot" mode.  However I don't have an IR light.  But this was taken in full sunlight anyway.


http://www.refugestewards.org/files/bat ... ooming.wmv



I think it is the same bat that I saw the other day.

Any guess at the species?

[Terry Lobdell]

Dave, what kind of camera did you use? I really liked the birds singing in the background. I have no idea what the species was. I eventually want to get some video of my bats. My sony cybershot has a video mode. I'd like to try it on the bats in my chimney mounted box when they exit.

It seems like the only way I can get good pictures up into a box is to shine a light up in. The best thing is to have another person hold the light while I use the camera.

[Dave Miller]

Dave, what kind of camera did you use? I really liked the birds singing in the background. I have no idea what the species was. I eventually want to get some video of my bats. My sony cybershot has a video mode. I'd like to try it on the bats in my chimney mounted box when they exit.

It seems like the only way I can get good pictures up into a box is to shine a light up in. The best thing is to have another person hold the light while I use the camera.

Terry - I have a Sony Digital8 camcorder.  Most of Sony's camcorders have a "Nightshot' (infrared) mode.   I will definitely have to come back with a tripod and get some decent video of this guy and any friends that may be hidden up in the attic space.

I used a camcorder this time because it has a much better zoom than my other cameras.

Another thing I noticed about taking still photos with a flash - next time I will rotate the camera 90 degrees so that the flash will not be blocked by the partitions, due to the distance between the lens and the flash.   i.e. if you are shooting with the partitions in "landscape mode", you can either see all the way up into the crevices through the lens, or illuminate all the way into the crevices with the flash, but not both.  If the partitions are in "portrait mode", both the lens and the flash should be able to see to the top of the crevices.

[Dave Miller]

Last night I went out to water one of the plantings and grabbed a couple of photos.

It has been in the low 100's lately which has melted off the excess wax (see "icicles" on left side).   Also note how the wood is beginning to darken.



 

Here is the house that has been occupied.  I didn't see the bat this time.  I am making some progress on my photo techniques - I changed the camera orientation and used manual focus.  Using the zoom on the camera display I could examine the various blobs in the house to see if they were a bat or a wasp nest.

[Dave Miller]

I finally got some decent pictures of the bat that has been using one of the houses since July (at least I assume it is the same bat). 

I need to identify the species for refuge purposes.  I would guess it is a little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus).  What do you all think?



Every time I visit it seems to be using a different crevice.  Note the bee nest in the outer crevice at the bottom.  These guys build a nest in about 95% of the planting tubes that we have placed around the native plants that we have planted in this area of the refuge.  They seem pretty harmless, not at all aggressive.

Same photo, zoomed in.



Another shot.  Getting the focus right is really tricky because you cannot see inside the house.



One more shot.



Just a shot of the other house, which I have never found occupied.  However I think bats are visiting it, as there are a few droppings below the house.  The wood continues to darken from the wax coating.

[Dave Miller]

I just found a "Species Profile" database on BCI's website which makes me even more confident that this is a Myotis lucifugus

http://www.batcon.org/SPprofiles/index.asp

[IowaNate]

 It definately looks like a little brown to me, or perhaps another small myotis species since there are so many similar looking myotis in Washington.

[Dave Miller]

I checked the houses yesterday 10/22/08 and the bat is still using the east house.  We are starting to get our first frosts, it will be interesting to see how long he hangs around.

He is in the second crevice from the bottom, on the right side.

[Joe Spencer]

Nice shot Dave! Hmm little browns usually have leave around this time for hibernation.  What are the evening temperatures averaging in your area in the  past week or so.  To help reduce wasp and bee nests if you place shallow boxes nearby which are basically a bat house without dividers, the insects might be less likely to build in the bat houses.  Worth experimenting with especially at your site.

[Dave Miller]

Nice shot Dave! Hmm little browns usually have leave around this time for hibernation.  What are the evening temperatures averaging in your area in the  past week or so.  To help reduce wasp and bee nests if you place shallow boxes nearby which are basically a bat house without dividers, the insects might be less likely to build in the bat houses.  Worth experimenting with especially at your site.

Overnight temps have been 32-40 deg F.  There was a little frost here and there yesterday morning.

Re: wasps, there are tons of them at the site so I don't think I can ever prevent them using the bat houses.  I just plan to knock them out every winter with a long skinny pole (or use a ladder if bats may still be present).

Speaking of bees/wasps, have you ever made or used a nest for solitary bees (e.g. mason bees)?  I just made a couple from teasel stems.

Tonight I am going to a talk on bats which should be interesting.

Have any of you ever led a bat walk or talk?  I think that leading a bat walk may be in my future down the road a bit, but I have never been a participant in one.  If you have led one, I would like to know what you did and how it went.