Bat House Forum

[cloudman75]

Took a few photos tonight to see what is happening.



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The first photo shows a blue house with three bats. On the extreme left is a freetail, next near the center a little brown with a freetail close to it. The free tails are more gray looking with wide ears that seem to almost meet in the middle. The next one is an old box with some little browns and a few free tails. A free tail with large ears can be seen clearly in the center third row baffle. This box was full of little browns a few minutes before I took this photo.
The last photo shows my little friend, a tiny bat which prefers to live alone and can take some cold weather. It has been with me in the largest most ventilated house since about mid March.

[Terry Lobdell]

Great pictures Frank!

[cloudman75]

Terry,
I took some more photos last night and noticed a lot of Little Browns have moved back into their favorite three chamber from the unvented house. When I took photos of the unvented house I saw about 20 or more freetails have come back. Glad to have them. I also have one Big Brown roosting with the freetails right now. It has been around since the weather cooled, moved to three different houses so far. I have never had a colony of Big browns yet. Also I saw 4 bats in my newest bat box painted blue.
Previously the high had been 3. The bats are having no problem whatever holding on to the rough board baffles. I bought a dozen more cedar boards recently
to use as baffles.
The one house I leaned up against a tree this year has had no takers at all. It had previously been well used.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Frank, I got my 3rd colony of big browns this summer.......have yet to get a picture of them though.......Last August I put up a large box very similar in design to the one on here that I covered with pieces of old tire for a neighbor........I expected to get little browns since there was at least 100 in a nearby attic but was surprised to see about 20 big browns in it late in July

In my area I've only seen big brown maternity colonies in very large boxes that can hold the heat throughout the night.......The only small boxes I've seen them use were single crevice rocket boxes.......

My big browns here at home have been using well ventilated boxes during some wet humid weather we've had in September......Seems like even when it is cool, they need a lot of ventilation if there is high humidity........

[cloudman75]

Thanks for Big Brown info. Terry
I captured two big Browns on a photo a couple of nights ago with a little brown beside one of them. There is a size difference no one should miss.
A couple of years ago I had a couple of BB. pups born in one of my boxes. They only stayed until the pups could fly. I always thought that the big browns got caught about to have pups and used my handy box to give birth. I have never had many BB s here at one time. I still have little browns here along with some others. The weather is very pleasant here now and I watched the bats exit tonight, but took no photos. There are plenty of insects still flying and mosquitoes
are bad.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Most of our little browns are gone up here........(migrated that is). I am doing a bat program Oct. 12th where I have the observation box so I hope we still have a few in there for people to see........

Last week I went about a half hour south of me to take a look at a house where the people said they have 1000+ little browns in their attic........I am certain they have at least 500.........they already have one large box supplied from the game commission........it had probably a 5 gallon bucket sized pile of guano underneath.........I told them I will take them 2 large boxes next March! That has me excited..........another large maternity colony of little browns to monitor!

[marius]

Know you all have probably discussed this somewhere in here ... but these are great photos and spouse and I want to know how you do it.

Do you shine a huge flashlight in there and then snap photo?
Do you use a flash?
Not very camera-smart here so ... any and all suggestions appreciated.

Concern about taking photos and lighting is that the bats get very active whenever we shine the flashlight on them and (stop laughing) but they seem distressed so ... how to photo and not distress them. Yeah, I'm new to this so maybe lights don't bother them like I think. Just don't want them to leave. : )

Right now we have about 50 big browns. They are still a delight.

[cloudman75]

Marius,
I go out right before the bats exit at dusk , point my auto focus, 10x optical, stabilized, 12 megapixel Kodak up to the bat house and take photos using the flash. Some one on the forum posted some tips at one time. It may have been Dave Miller, but I cannot remember. The bats have tolerated my photo taking with a flash for years to the extent they don't leave. I get right under the bat house so the flash goes up into the baffles. My camera has a pretty good depth of focus so it shows the entire height of the baffles usually. Good luck, and congrats on your success with the bats.
I remember seing your post of the houses I think. I look so often and so much that I sometimes get people mixed up at my age.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Yeah, it was Dave that posted some good tips on getting pictures up inside the crevices........I don't have as good a camera as you Frank.......yours are as good as I've ever seen........

Marius, once the bats are used to you, they shouldn't be too bothered by picture taking........

[marius]

Terry and Frank ... thanks for quick and informative replies! Will pass the photo info on to spouse and if we get good pics, will certainly share them.

And, Frank, your memory seems fine to me. I posted earlier this spring when we had about 19 big browns, our first bat house and first bats ever! Then had questions about where to hang second bat house and about bats and sunshine. You guys were great with answers and help. Thanks so much!

Marius

[Terry Lobdell]

Marius, to illustrate how bats can tolerate being viewed, here is a link with pictures of an observation box I built to view bats. This past July we looked at them for over an hour on consecutive weeks and the 2nd week the number of bats had doubled from around 40 to close to 80! So it must not have bothered them too much the first week we viewed them!

http://creekconnections.shutterfly.com/12227

[marius]

Wow, Terry! I've never seen anything like that! !!!

Thanks so much and does give confidence about photographing our bats with no worries about disturbing them. Thanks!

Question: is there a protective cover (glass, plexiglass) between you and bats when you open up that bat house? Didn't look like it and don't know why it would be needed. Just wondering. Also, did you lower that bat house? If so, how?

[Terry Lobdell]

Marius, yes there is plexiglass........I have a winch system that I lower and raise the 2 bat boxes with........it is a system designed by Andy Troyer for raising and lowering purple martin houses....the bats seem fine with the boxes being lowered for viewing.......although sometimes the brake on the winch slips and causes the box to vibrate. I've had a few fly out before when that has happened.......but most of the time if I lower it slowly and carefully the bats seem unconcerned..........This past summer the staff at the nature center here were taking people out and showing them the bats almost every day!

[marius]

Fascinating! Had no idea one could lower bat houses and all of that. Can you say where this Nature Center is? I travel sometimes and that would be worth a visit for sure. Thanks for sharing!

[Terry Lobdell]

It is in Crawford County, near Meadville PA. It is the Woodcock Creek Nature Center. It is very easy to find.......the staff there take people out almost every day to show them the bats........tomorrow I am doing a program for girl scouts and we will be lowering the boxes to view the bats.......it is late in the year but hopefully there will be a few in there........