Bat House Forum

[dot_s]

For the past 5 summers, we have had one lone bat take up residence in a window shutter under our carport.  We generally see him/her (Igor to us) from early April to October or early November.  After that, we're not sure if our guest flies south for the winter, retreats behind a crossbar in the shutter where we cannot see him, or over winters in some warmer local spot.  We live in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland.  Should we try to provide Igor with better housing, or let well-enough alone?  Also, we have not power washed that particular shutter (It sorely needs it.) for five years, for fear of disturbing Igor.  What are the chances that he/she vacates the shutter in the winter?  Feedback is greatly appreciated!

[Joe Spencer]

Dot one of the best things one can do is to place a bat house up preferably on the house/building prior to disturbing the bat in any way.  The bat my take a liking to it and if he prefers it over the shutter, you can then clean the shutter. Obviously you can indeed leave well enough alone.  Given your location and the bats' preference for the shutter, it is likely a big  brown bat.  These common bats as well as the little brown bats (common) actually don't fly south for hibernation but stay quite local to their summer digs.  They usually hibernate in a spot within 100 miles of their spring-summer-nursery location.  Little brown bats will often go even further for hibernacula.  Frequently big brown bats' hibernacula distance from their summer roost is 0 miles since a home or building meets their needs for both a summer roots and winter hibernacula.  In your case with the bat on the exterior shutter and with your information you provided, this lone bat is likely a male bat which may hibernate in a spot local to you and prefers your shutter for the feeding season.  Based on your location, Igor should be vacating the shutter at some point in the late fall Sept-Nov (big browns) and go to hibernacula (a building, cave, mine, culvert, other etc).  Nice to hear the bat has been there for that long.  Do you have a year round water source (lake, pond, river, stream etc.)  within a 1/4 of your home?   Looking forward to your future posts and feedback with our forum members always willing to provide insight and assistance.

[dot_s]

Thanks for the feedback, Joe.  As a result of your comments, I am thinking about having a bat house put on a nearby shed.   Igor has a convenient water source in the form of a stream that runs through our property.  I appreciate his presence much more than the rest of my family does, but I don't want a dozen of his relatives under the shutter with him.