Often the things that we fear the most in nature are things we do not understand.


Take bats, for example. Fossils tell us that they have changed very little since the Eocene era, 50-60 million years ago. As the only known flying mammal they play a critical role in the consumption of flying insects and the pollination of many flowering plants. In the U.S., bats are primarily insectivores. One small brown bat or one hoary bat, the most common species, can consume as many as 2,000 mosquitoes per night and a colony of big brown bats can eat tens of thousands of agricultural pests in one season.


Yet bats are vilified as blind, blood sucking pests who can become tangled in your hair and transmit rabies to humans. You can thank Hollywood and over active campfire imaginations for most of these incorrect and ridiculous assertions.


The facts are that North American bats, while color blind, are not blind. These nocturnal pest control specialists see better than humans at night and are aided by an incredible navigation system. As they fly they emit a series of high pitched clicks that bounce off of objects and are echoed back to their ears. The echoes increase as they approach prey or any object they need to avoid. This echolocation system is so sophisticated and precise that bats can very easily steer around a single strand of human hair.


The idea that bats suck blood is based on three species of vampire bats, none of which live in North America or Europe. They are native to Mexico and areas in Central and South America. And, they prefer cows to humans so even if you are travelling in their habitat you should concern yourself more with enjoying local culture than a bat attack.


The rabies rumors are also rife with inaccuracies. While bats can transmit rabies, as can many animals, there has never been a case of the small brown bat, the most common resident of bird hoses, infecting humans. When left alone or handled correctly and only when needed the chance of getting rabies from a bat is no greater then contracting rabies from a skunk. In Austin, Texas, for example, each spring more than 1 million Mexican free-tailed bats living under a bridge form the largest urban bat colony in North America. The bats attract thousands of tourists who hope to see the bats emerge on their nightly hunting trips, yet no case of bat transmitted rabies has ever been recorded in Austin or surrounding counties.


Bats are in fact fascinating silent flyers and key members of a healthy ecosystem. They co-exist with backyard birds, other wildlife, livestock, pets, and people in cities and rural areas and will easily accept a properly installed bat house home during their spring and summer migration into every corner of North America.


Follow these tips when choosing and installing your bat house and next spring you'll have one of the battiest backyards in the neighborhood:


Size. The Organization for Bat Conservation (OBC) recommends martin bird houses that are long and wide (see Anything Birds Large Rancho Red Bat House or the Bat House for 45 Bats) as opposed to short, narrow houses. This preference is not well understood but it could simply be that wider houses are easier to see, and, because of the increased surface area, are warmer.


Location. This is a key consideration to attracting bats. Many otherwise useful bat house are vacant because not enough thought was put into where to hang the bat house. Here are a couple of general rules:


€ Trees are for birds, not bats. Hang your bat house on a pole or the side of a building, not in a tree. Bat houses in trees take longer to occupy and often are never used. Why? Bats need to see the house. If it's hidden by tree branches it is difficult to see and the tree leaves will prevent the sun from warming the house.
€ Warm bats are happy bats. The ideal internal temperature for a bat house is 80 - 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The amount of sunlight hitting the house, color of house, and construction materials play a role in maintaining the proper temperature, but the most critical consideration is the direction your bat house faces. In the northeastern and northwestern United States bat should face south to allow for maximum exposure to the sun. In the southeast and southwest face the bat house east or southeast. Bat houses should never face north because bats depend on the rising sun to replace the heat lost during the night.


Height and clearance. Houses for Bats, either attached to a building or a pole, should be 15 - 20 ft. above the ground and should be at least 20 ft. from obstructions such as power lines and tree limbs. If the house is attached to a building it's a good idea to put a 2--4 spacer between the bat house and the building wall. The spacer protects the building by keeping urine and feces away from it.


Once installed properly bat shelter are nearly maintenance free. The only requirement is to take the bat house down during the off season (usually November through February), clean, re-caulk any open cracks, and repaint as needed.


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