Bat Houses Installed at Beaver Hollow

Friends’ volunteers installed bat houses at Beaver Hollow recently. Two large bat houses were installed by the pavilion, and two smaller bat houses, the size typically used in residential settings, were mounted by the kiosk. We’re ready for bats! North Pikes Creek is home to all seven species of northern Wisconsin’s bats- Big Brown, Little Brown, Eastern Red, Hoary, Northern Long-eared, Silver-haired, and Eastern Pipistrelle or Tricolored Bats. Only the Big Brown and Little Brown bat species use bat boxes for summer roosting and pup rearing. The other five species use tree roosts in a variety of unique ways. Some bats roll up in leaves, some roost under bark or in tree crevices, and others just hang in trees. In the winter, our northern bats either hibernate in caves, mines, and buildings, or migrate to the southern U.S.

The wetlands and forests at North Pikes Creek provide bats with everything they need to spend their summer here- water, ideal roosting spots, and an abundance of insects. Bats prefer to feed over calm water, such as ponds, because fast running water interferes with their echolocation. Beavers, a keystone species, are responsible for creating the habitat needed by bats at North Pikes Creek.

In Wisconsin, bats give birth to a single pup in June. Like other mammals, bat mothers nurse their young. When the pups are three to four weeks old, they venture out on their own to feed on insects. A single Little Brown bat can eat half its body weight in insects each night. A bat house full of bats can consume a lot of insects! Bats play an important role in controlling night flying insects in forests, yards, and gardens.

White-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that affects bats, has caused a dramatic decline in bat numbers. Providing summer roosts for our Wisconsin bats can help them raise their young and increase their populations.