Bat House Forum

[cloudman75]

Marius,
Thanks for posting about your bats leaving. Right when nearly all mine left, we got a break from cold weather and some of my bats have returned as of tonight. I took a light out and checked. The bats still here are all in one box which happens to be the warmest one I have. It has no ventilation slots at all and is dark blue on the upper portion. The bottom is a lighter blue but the box is rather tall at 36 inches high. I notice that the bats are staying up near the top.
This more or less documents what Terry told you that they may return during warm spells. Big Browns from all I have read can take cooler weather better than some other species. While I was looking at the houses with a light several bats were flying around the house so I guess they have found some food to eat.
If the bats here at my place come back during warm spells this winter I will take some photos and post them. In the past they have showed up in Feb on warm spells which are not unsual here. Terry I have two plastic bat houses shells I bought from William Bagwell that I will be putting baffles in this winter when the mood strikes me after Christmas. I'll post some after the first of the year.
I already have the rough cedar boards in hand. I plan to give one to my son as he has a few acres with a lake and bats flying around this summer.
Be careful Terry and get recovered soon,

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Thanks Frank! I am getting better each day.......about 2 more months in the back brace though.......in the mean time I am still planning on next year's bat house projects!

Frank did you know that OBC is showcasing one of your pictures with bats roosting on their website? It is getting a lot of attention.......I happened to see it on facebook and I thought hmmm.......that looks like one of Frank's pictures........and sure enough the description said it was located in Georgia! That pretty much confirms what I've thought all along........you have taken some of the best pictures yet of successful bat houses!

As for my next year's projects........I want to try making a manual boom mounted on a quadra-pod that I can raise an entire bat box and pole high enough to set the pole in the ground.......

If I can attach the bat box to the post on the ground it will eliminate the need for climbing.......eventually some climbing will be needed for maintenance purposes but I think I'm going to be using scaffolding for that more in the future.........

I will probably experiment here at home first

[marius]

Glad you are getting better Terry! And thanks to all of you for sharing about bats in winter. Haven't checked for the bats lately but spouse says no new guano and all the old guano is in the compost pile. Will keep my eyes open on warm days just in case they do return. Meanwhile, posted first ever bat photos (for us) in the photo section of this forum. So happy they turned out okay. Very exciting to get first bat photos! And, William, you can see the warped baffles pretty easy in these photos. : )

[cloudman75]

Terry,
OBC asked me to send them some photos and requested permission to use them. I have been very fortunate with the photos. I just returned from taking some photos and have about a dozen bats tonight. At least half are freetails, the others Little Browns. It was a mild night last night, temps in the mid 40s.
Thanks for the comments on my photos, it's good to be lucky like I am. Glad that you are doing well.
I am going to look at Marius photos now.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Frank, I checked my boxes last night and tonight......no big browns at all.........

[cloudman75]

We had temp. last night in the high 20s and frost this mornoning on 12/01/2011. I took photos tonight of all bat houses. Only one bat still here and that is the little one that usually spends the winter here. It had moved to the warmest house which has no ventilation and a dark color. It is supposed to warm to the 60s in a few days so I will check to see if any will return.

Frank

[cloudman75]

The last two nights when I checked all my bat houses, I saw no bats. Even the tiny bat that usually stays the winter is gone. Looks like they have gone into hibernation as of Dec 2 or third. They usually show up about mid March here so that is a rather short time in hibernation compared to some locations.

Frank