Quote:
Originally Posted by Lin
"...The white nose bat disease is a real threat to bats. With the loss of the bats there will be a much higher mosquito population..."
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1) The Nature Conservancy owns an easement to Mascot Lead Mine near Gorham, NH, according to a recent mailing. Quote:
Quote:
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"...[Mascot Lead Mine is] a winter home (hibernacula) for about 1500 bats of five species...the mine is gated to protect the bats...It's home to the small-footed myotis, the Eastern pipistrelle, little brown bat, and the big brown bat..."
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(I thought all bats were "big")
Most NH bats go out of state for the winter: a recent inventory of the Mascot Lead Mine cave (now owned by NHF&G) showed some species are down in numbers. That disease (white nose disease) is prevelant in the winter caves of New York state, Massachusetts and Vermont.
2) My shoebox-sized bat house unexpectedly "emptied out" early one September afternoon. I don't know what caused the fire drill, but seemingly hundreds poured out and milled in the woods. One glanced off my head—a first for me, and maybe for it. The bat house doesn't get full sun, so it wasn't the heat.
3) As for capturing bats inside, none has beaten my dad's midnight capture: When told of a bat fluttering around inside, he sleepily rolled over, raised up a shoe, and the bat flew directly into it!
A lot easier catch-and-release than having to pick a bat out of a landing net, I'll tell you!
(And yes, close-up, they do look like mice—
toothy mice).
