Bat House Forum

[IowaNate]

 Please donate whatever you can to the The Fund For White nose Syndrome Research on Bat Conservation International's website. We need to find out what is causing this, and stop it before it spreads any farther. Any amount would be appreciated be it $1 or $100. If we don't find out the cause, I feel it could be the death of many of the hibernating bats in the Northern states. Especially our Indiana myotis which could be most threatened by this sickness. I am greatly worried about this disease and I hope that most of you feel the same, especially those of us in the Northern US.

   Please take the time to research this illness online, and make your own conclusions, and donate anything you can.

    Thanks to you all,

                                Nathan Krejci

[Radar]

Since the fungus is around the nose of the bat it just seams like there might be a link between the bees dieing and the bats problem. even if they eat insects not pollin. I wonder if anyone is studying the 2 cases.  Maybe the bees are getting a similar fungas that they haven't picked up on yet.

[IowaNate]

 The bats that are dying from this illness are from the Northeastern United States, they do not feed on bees or feed on pollen. The pollen or nectar feeding bats live in the Southwest part of the U.S. so I don't think there is any correlation between the bees and the bats in that part of the country. Indiana myotis and little brown myotis are the two species that are being most affected by this illness and their main diet consists mostly of mosquitos, gnats, midges, and small moths. None of these insects feed on pollen except perhaps the moths.

[Ben]

About WNS (White-Nose Syndrome) I'm sure most of you have seen this by now, but still worth sharing. Found this interesting video on the US Fish & Wildlife Service Site. Here is the link.

http://www.fws.gov/northeast/wns2.html

This other link shares important information, updates and links on decontamination for people who might get in contact with bats infected with WNS, such as "cavers" or Bat/Bat house enthousiasts

http://www.fws.gov/northeast/white_nose.html

Ben

 

[IowaNate]

 Thank you Ben for the links, this is a problem that could very well tragically affect both Canada and the U.S. All of North America needs to investigate this problem. I hope that our Department of Natural Resources and your Ministry in Canada can work together in finding the cause of this.