Another project that we took on this summer was mounting some bat houses. The refuge had been given these bat houses several years ago, but they had been stacked in a corner of the shop since then, gathering dust. Suzanne, the refuge manager asked if we thought we could mount them on a pole, and off we went!
Suzanne had decided the best mounting would be on a pole, out in front of her residence. Bat Conservation International had some plans showing different ways to mount bat houses, so we used those as a guide. This area gets very cool at night, but can get quite warm during the day, so we mounted one house facing north and the other facing south. These houses have a hole in the back to provide some ventilation and allow the bats to move from one house to the other depending on temperature.
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| Measure twice, cut once! |
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| Mounting the first house. |
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| Securing the second house. |
Suzanne didn't want the houses to become perches for the local hawk population, so we decided to add Nixalite strips to discourage perching birds. We are getting pretty good at installing these strips!
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| Hardware for Nixalite strips. |
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| Installing the strips. Don't get poked! |
Once the entire assembly was completed on the shop floor, we dug a deep posthole in the desired spot and hauled the pole/house out there. We were afraid that we might need help to lift it into place, but Teri and I got it in just fine. A couple of sacks of concrete later, we were finished!
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| Finished bat house installation. |
Now all we need are some bats. BTW - We found two more bat houses gathering dust in another corner, so we may get to repeat this in another location. We'll see...
Mark
I've heard that it may take up to five years for bats to start using a new house. Don't know if that's true or not.
ReplyDeleteDo you read Julie Zickafoose blog? She often writes about the bats she has raised and that live near her. Also, remember the bunkers at Aroostook that were being re-habed for bat hibernation? I think the last report is that it looks successful. So neat that folks are aware of how beneficial bats are.
ReplyDeleteIt can't take too long to attract them. We have been here in Oregon for almost three months now and one is enjoying perching on our back shade.
ReplyDeleteVirginia