Actually did not think I’d have more bat news this soon. But in a reply to a message I’d left in the morning with the national white-nose syndrome coordinator based in Hadley, MA, by afternoon I’d received a great comprehensive reply from a wildlife biologist at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. He writes that for some species of bat population losses are at 90% or more and the syndrome has spread as far as Tennessee and eastern Canada. Here are some useful links for general exclusion or for both handling and exclusion of bats that he sent me.
It sounds like the bats I have may be big brown bats– the term “big” is relative and in fact the bats are still pretty small–but big brown bats are not affected by the syndrome, it seems, to such a degree as the smaller bats.
I am on hold to see if some of what I’ve been seeing may in fact be abnormal bat behavior or not. This is my fifth summer up here on the hill and never had a bat fly inside the house before.
Stay tuned, same bat channel…