Bat Projects

Bat Project

Bats have a reputation as being spooky or dangerous but they are actually one of the most beneficial animals to people. All of New Jersey's bats are insectivores. They feed on night-flying insects, including the pesty mosquitoes. A single little brown bat can eat 3,000 mosquito-sized insects a night, and a colony of 150 big brown bats can eat enough cucumber beetles to save farmers almost a billion dollars annually in crop damages and pesticide costs. Some garden pests even detect the sounds that bats make while feeding and will avoid areas where bats are present. Without bats, we would be more dependent on toxic pesticides to control insect pests. In other areas of the world, bats play a major role in pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds for plants such as bananas, avocados, peaches, and mangoes. Bats also help to reforest the tropical rainforests.

During the past few years, biologists in the northeast have discovered a mysterious affliction that is affecting bats in many of the New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, including New Jersey. The affliction has been named "white nose syndrome” (WNS) due to the white fungus observed around the nose of some of the affected bats. WNS has been observed in New Jersey's three most important hibernacula. Currently, very little is known about WNS and its cause. The states, federal government, several universities and private organizations are allocating significant resources to track and discover the cause of WNS. There is no evidence to suggest that WNS has any affect on humans.

Little Brown Bats roosting in a cave. Photo by Melissa Craddock.

Since 2003, the Summer Bat Count project has enlisted volunteers across NJ to monitor bat populations at known summer roost sites. This volunteer project was created by the Conserve Wildlife Foundation and the state's Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) to gain a better understanding of how NJ's bats are distributed across the state, what conditions they select for roosting, and how populations may be changing over time. Now that White-nose Syndrome has hit NJ, Summer Bat Count information is even more critical, helping biologists to measure the impact of this devastating ailment.

Mick Valent assesses a little brown bat during a July 2009 summer roost survey at Supawna Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by MacKenzie Hall.

In response to White-nose Syndrome, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and many states have stepped-up efforts to study summering bat colonies. The goal was to assess bats for signs of WNS exposure – like wing scarring, holes, or tears – and to record their weight, sex, reproductive status & age, and affix ID bands for future observation. In NJ, ENSP's Mick Valent led the roost monitoring effort, and CWF lent a hand by coordinating study sites and assisting with the capture and assessment of bats.

The Conserve Wildlife Foundation is also launching an Indiana Bats Forestry Project to work with willing landowners and land managers to enhance bat habitat. Projects will involve forestry practices to create forest roosting opportunities for the endangered Indiana bat as well as more common tree-roosting species. Up to $1,500 is available for each participating landowner, thanks to a NJ Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) grant.

2009 Summer Bat Count Results

Project Pages:

Indiana Bats Forestry Project

Summer Bat Count

For More Information:

Bat fact sheet

White Nose Syndrome

Bat House installation instructions

A Homeowner's Guide to Northeastern Bats and Bat Problems (Penn State University)

Bat Conservation International

MacKenzie Hall, Private Lands Biologist

908-782-4614 x 104