Guest Columnist
Some believe bats are evil, are ancestors coming back to haunt them bringing up to 10 years of bad luck if nesting in a nearby tree. Also, they're vampires just waiting to take your blood!!! Bats, however are really our friends.
They're the only flying mammal, are very clean, and their guano is a great fertilizer! They're predators with highly developed senses for catching prey as well as avoiding being the prey for other predators. Using a form of radar called echolocation, they send out pulses from their mouths which hit an object and return as an echo. The returns tell them not only where their prey is, but also what it is. If the object is an enemy, such as a hawk, bats can duck out of the way at the last second!
Bats sleep during daylight hours and become the main predator of insects during the night. They can catch up to 1,000 mosquito-sized one an hour, eating up to 70% of their body weight each night (100% if pregnant or lactating). They save us as much as $3.7 billion every year in reduced crop losses and pesticide use. Unfortunately, habitat loss and white nose syndrome are causing a severe population decline. Declines mean farmers have to use more pesticides. Bats can also eat fruit, pollen, and nectar, becoming great pollinators in the process!
Social creatures, bats live in colonies from a few to many thousands. Some hibernate during winter. Locally, most go south for the winter, returning in spring to their same nesting location whether in or near your house or often a cave. If bat houses on your property become inhabited, your assured of their return migration every spring. Yes, some can carry disease, but they also help prevent insect-causing diseases, such as West Nile virus.
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