Aly & Bryan are always up to something…
While working on an outdoor faucet last weekend, Bryan noticed a bat on the bricks nearby. We scooped him up gently in a newspaper and moved him to a tree where he’d be out of harm’s way. This Little Brown Bat (myotis lucifugus) has several friends in the gable-end attic louvre. We can tell because we hear them talking as they wake up in the evenings, and because of what’s collecting on the brick ledge underneath their new home.
Audubon Arkansas has moved into their new repurposed and remodeled facility down near the airport. Mary Smith, their director of education, asked Mandy if she’d work on the bat houses there. They aren’t being used at all, and Mary didn’t know why. Mary also had two used houses she wanted installed close by the new building. Mandy did some research and together we decided what work needed to be done.
We reroofed, recaulked, repainted, and added some length to the posts for two houses Mary’d brought in from someplace else. Now firmly set in Quikrete near the building, they’ll serve as good teaching props and hopefully soon will shelter some bats.
The Kampwerths brought some night vision equipment and an Anabat monitoring device, which was fun to use. We didn’t see many bats that evening, but it was neat to touch the monitoring equipment and talk about how to progress with the bat house project.
