We hope you'll share information about the bats in your area. When you see your FIRST bat this season, please let us know! Simply fill out a Field Data Form by selecting the Owl button on any Journey North Web page.
Conservation Caution
Bats spend the day in caves, mines, buildings, under bridges, or
in trees. It is extremely difficult to find them, especially those
that roost as solitary individuals. However, the ones that congregate
in large numbers are easy to find. It's also easy to disturb them and
thus harm them. Please do not visit bats in their day roosting sites!
1. Find a Bat
Where can you find a bat? Bat expert Dr. Ginny Dalton has these suggestions:
- Pick a warm evening, above 10 degrees Celsius (50 F), when it's either dry or drizzling."
- In temperate regions, look for insectivorous bats around streetlights when bats forage for the insects that are drawn to those lights. Start looking around dusk. Different species of bats leave their day roosts at different times -- some before sunset, some afterwards. However, if you started looking about 5-15 minutes after sunset and wait for an hour at the most, you might see some bats chasing insects that are drawn to the street lights. Lights near woods or open fields, maybe in the parking lot of a city park, are a good place to start.
- If I were in Virginia, I'd start looking maybe in early May. I'd TRY early May if I were in Michigan, but maybe mid-May is better.
2. Record Information
- Whether you see bats or not, record the date and the temperature.
- After you've seen the season's first bats, find out how windy or rainy or cold it has to get for bats to stay home in the evening.
3. Report to Journey North
In the comments section of your Field Data Form, please tell us as much as you can about the bats in your region: For example:
- Which bat species live in your area?
- What do they eat?
- What did you see first this spring, a bat or a mosquito?
- What were the average night-time temperatures at the time of your first sighting?
- Was there any wind or rain?
- Do your local bats migrate or hibernate?
- Save your money for purchase of a "bat detector" (obtained from someplace like BCI) so you can "hear" the bats as they use their sonar to locate their tasty meal items. Bat detectors are not inexpensive, so maybe you can get your folks to pitch in, and perhaps the whole class could purchase one and donate it to the school.
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