Bat Week 2019 will be October 24 thru 31. Although most people know them through the scary stories told about them during Halloween, bats are really our friends. See Bats – the forgotten pollinators.
According to the WDNR*, there are great reasons to celebrate bats:
- Bats are an important part of our ecosystems and provide Wisconsin farmers up to $1.5 billion in natural pest control every year, according to USGS research.
- Wisconsin bats consume 17 distinct types of mosquitoes, 9 of which are known to carry West Nile Virus, according to recent UW-Madison research into bat diets.
If there’s an event being held in your area celebrating bats, let me know and I’ll add it to this post.
- Wisconsin is not hosting a bat festival this year. See Wisconsin Bat Program.
- Minnesota Bat Festival, Saturday, October 26, 2019, 9AM-3:30PM.
See the BatWeek website hosted by Bat Conservation International Inc for more information.
Also see Bat Week 2018 for more facts and photos.
*WDNR stands for Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
I once learned that in some parts of the world, there were big caves, often of limestone with big springs, full of bats. I mean really full — complete with guano. They were sealed off with trash, including trash building parts, years ago. Finding these places again and ventilating them is supposed to be good for the environment.
I would think opening those caves as habitat for bats would be very good for the environment, Cindy.
There is a cave off The Alum. It is near the 22 bus route.
The ones in the Middle East had huge circulating springs. The caves ere filled in thousands of years ago. Some of the destructed land along the silk road had them. These areas have no water table at all, while there are underground pools of trapped water in other places. Same for our southwest descending into Mexico.
I went on a sierra club hike. We went to one of these springs, which was also a toxic waste site. The water movement was unbelievable. It was in or near a small mining town.
Ney Collier sent a comment via Facebook I wanted to share with you. Ney wrote:
Be sure to get rid of burdock. Bats get trapped in the burrs and die a horrible death. Also burdock tears their wings. If you have not already killed burdock plants by cutting the root below the growing point using a parsnip predator tool, at least snip off burrs, bag and compost them.