Bat House Forum

[Richathome]

Mid March we had a real warm spell into the 60s and the Big Brown left the heated house and had not returned. Last night, 22 April I checked the pole mounted bat houses out back and 2 Big Browns were roosting inside the 5 chamber side (the SE side). They were in the center chamber and I don't know what this is telling me.This is the first sighting of a Big Brown since mid March and hopefully one of them is the one that overwintered in the heated house. At the end of winter as the temperatures warmed it seemed the Big Brown was annoyed being awoken by the warm temperatures. It would move seeming to locate a cooler spot in the box to go back into torpor. The Big Brown favored the 40 degrees and would move if the temp reached more than 50 degrees when weather warmed. Now we are going into spring with temperatures where the bats will be able to forage and fatten up. The Little Brown bats should be returning in a couple weeks. It has been an enjoyable winter observing the the Big Brown.
Good Luck to all with existing colonies and wishing great success to all starting new ones. Last year including the winter months has been a good learning experience for me.

[Joe Spencer]

What? Rich you mean you didn't spray paint the bat yellow (no white paint due to potential WNS confusion) for identification purposes to see if it just went to the summer site accross the yard? Cmon Rich! Seriously though, nice work and feedback on your experimentation. If you haven't already done so, are you contemplating providing this invaluable data to BCI in the future potentially after more experimentation? More:

Did you see our postings on WNS, hibernation, and humidity requirements during hibernation for different species of bats? I mentioned your big brown artificial hibernacula roost experimentation. It is a helpful thread. http://www.bathouseforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=633

Thanks again and great feedback!

[Richathome]

Joe--"What IF" has been on my mind all winter long. "What IF" I could have marked this Big Brown in some way to track it was what would have been great. I believe that they do ring bats for tacking and research. Now that would have been ideal in this case. I also have a Purple Martin colony that I maintain. 72 pair and I fledged over 300 young Martins last season. I've always wanted to have the young banded by a certified bander but that is not easy to do here in central Illinois. I did locate a bander within 100 miles of me but after a phone call to him last year he informed me he no longer bands birds. It takes quite a bit to be able to become a certified bander. This link has info on who can legally band http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/homepage/whocan.htm

To make you smile a few years back I had problems with raccoons raiding my bird feeders. After live trapping, transporting and releasing a few I wondered if they were returning so I spray painted a nice orange dot on their rumps on several more and released those and none were recaptured. I must have been moving them far enough away. Now just think what I could have done with some of my Glow In The Dark paint I use on my Ice fishing jigs or some of my Glow fly tying material. Point a flash camera into a bat house--Blink the flash and Walla a Glowing bat would appear. "Black Light" lamps could also be used to illuminate the Glow for less disturbance of the bats.

Perhaps if researchers had Glow In The Dark rings to place on bats wings a trip into a dark cavern or looking into a dark bat house and then a blink of a flash would immediately identify a banded bat present. A numbered ring on the opposite wing and recapture while the bat was at rest or during torpor would aid in research. Save the need of mist netting by chance of catching the one you want. There is some very bright glowing material on the market--paints and plastics. Could make it easier to mark, relocate and research bats in caves with WNS for instance.

I have not read the links you posted above but I will soon Joe.