Homeowners can help monitor but don’t have to

Do you have a bat box or bat house at your residence, or do you have a barn or other building where you know bats are consistently present?

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is looking for people across southeastern Montana who have bats on their properties and will allow staff to visit two to three times a year to observe bat activity. Residents can be present or take part in this monitoring but do not have to. Visits would potentially be in June and July and would involve staff observing bat houses or structures around dark for activity.

Bats won’t just congregate anywhere, according to FWP non-game biologist Amanda Hall, even if you put up a bat house for them. A bat house is a narrow, wooden box typically mounted on a pole or structure. Similar to a bird house, it has a small opening and enough space for bats to roost in colonies.

“Bats are very selective in terms of what is a suitable bat box or roost site,” Hall said. “You have to consider temperature, disturbances, proximity to water, etc., but we really don’t know in eastern Montana what their preferences are.”

That’s one reason why Hall is looking for help to locate some sites around the region that offer suitable bat habitat. The hope is to track bat activity in these areas from year to year.

“Bats have site fidelity,” Hall said, explaining that they stay with chosen roost sites.

This outreach to bat hosts is a newer component to FWP’s existing bat research. Non-game biologists across the state already conduct emergence counts at known roosts. They also capture them via mist-netting to identify species, take measurements, determine reproductive status, and check for the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome. The fungus causes skin lesions and disrupts bats during winter hibernation, potentially causing them to starve. In addition, biologists conduct research by collecting bat guano from roost sites and undertaking acoustic monitoring.

If people with bat sites are interested in learning more about bats, this is a citizen science opportunity for them to observe along with FWP staff. Included are the counties of Custer, Garfield, Treasure, Rosebud, Prairie, Powder River, Richland, Dawson, Wibaux, Fallon and Carter.

If you have bats on your property and are willing to allow access to FWP to observe them, please send your name, location and contact information to Amanda Hall at amanda.hall@mt.gov or contact the FWP Miles City office at 406-234-0900.