On Sunday, February 9, the Garretson Parks Advisory Committee was presented with 8 bat houses by the Jesse James 4-H.
“Last spring, GPAC had been contacted by the 4-H group, wondering if there was a community service project they could do for the parks, and the idea of bat houses came through after some brainstorming,” said GPAC member Carrie Moritz.
Bats help with pest control, which is perfect for a park that resides near the water, where mosquitos breed. They eat vast amounts of insects each night, and are a non-chemical way of reducing mosquito populations. According to Bat Conservation International, some pregnant or nursing mothers can eat up to their body weight in insects per night. A healthy bat population can also reduce the number of pests that damage crops. It is estimated that they are worth $3.7 billion per year in crop damage reduction.
A few myths continue to persist about these flying mammals, however, which has contributed, along with environmental degradation and irresponsible hunting, to many species becoming endangered. A belief that bats are flying rodents who cannot see and always carry rabies is one that sends many people scurrying for cover when they notice bats, thinking that they’ll get tangled in hair and make people sick. While bats can carry rabies, it is not at a rate any higher than any other mammal, and they will rarely attack humans. It was recently discovered that bats can see as well as any other mammal. Along with their ability to use echolocation (the use of sound to “see” objects), they can see quite well while they’re hunting. “Basically, the bat emits beep-like sounds into its path, then collects and analyzes the echoes that come bouncing back. Using sound alone, bats can see everything but color and detect obstacles as fine as a human hair,” writes Bat Conservation International on its website, batcon.org.
They also are not rodents. While some do have pointed noses, a bat is “more closely related to humans than to rats or mice,” Bat Conservation International points out.
Bat houses help provide shelter for bats, helping to protect them from not only predators, but from the weather. It gives them space to rest, and the style built by the Jesse James 4-H club will allow up to 30 bats to roost per house.
“Before we put them together, we installed a screen inside,” said Jesse James 4-H member Evan Bly. This will give the bats purchase to hang. Each house also has ridges along the bottom, which will help the bats land and climb inside.
A medium-colored shade is also requested for bat houses in the South Dakota region, and to accommodate that, each house was stained a medium-dark shade of brown. John Bly was also generous enough to whittle the shape of a bat into the front of each house, so passersby will know what they are for.
The houses will be installed around Split Rock Park this spring, and the Parks Committee is grateful to the 4-H group for gathering supplies and taking the time to research and build the bat houses.
