For Immediate Release
February 16, 2010

Cañada College Installs Bat House to Aid Surrounding Ecosystem

Bats consume vast quantities of insects, many of which are agricultural pests.

A new bat house installed near the Facilities Maintenance Center could attract a colony of hundreds of the Chiroptera to campus and help the native ecosystem.

“Bats are extremely beneficial to the ecosystem,” said Greg Tatarian of Wildlife Research Associates in Santa Rosa. “Local bats are insectivores and consume vast quantities of insects, many or most of which turn out to be agricultural pests, or pests of ornamental and native trees and shrubs.”

Tatarian, who helped design and place the 4.5-foot-tall and 4-foot-wide bat house, said the campus is located in good foraging habitat for bats. “There are about 16 bat species that occur in the region, and with nearby water, woodland forest, and grassland, the habitat diversity is good, which attracts bats. Because bats are roost-limited, enhancing roost habitat can be an effective approach at augmenting local bat populations.”

Tatarian was contacted by Linda Rizzoli, construction project manager for the newly constructed Facilities Maintenance Center, to help with the bat house. “Bats like to roost in wooden structures,” she said. “We know bats live in the barns in this area so we’re hoping this bat house will help augment the population.”

Rizzoli said the bats will not roost in other campus buildings because they do not like the activity. “This is a nice, quiet location where they won’t be disturbed,” she said. The bats will also provide guano for plants on campus.

Bats are selective about their roost sites, which is one reason why populations of many species are at-risk, Tatarian said. “Their natural roosts are unavailable or disturbed, and successful reproduction and rearing of pups requires safe, undisturbed roost sites. While several bat species will sometimes use human-occupied structures, the buildings at Cañada have been in place since 1968, so if any had been found by bats to be suitable roosts, they would have used them before now.”

The best way to encourage bats to roost in the new house is to leave it alone, Tatarian said. “Don’t shine lights into it. Don’t kick the supports. Don’t pick up any bats that may fall to the ground.” The incidence rate of rabies in bats is low – about one in a thousand – and there are no “outbreaks” of rabies in bat colonies, he said. “They don’t fly after people to bite them whether they are sick or not, and they do not contact ‘furious’ rabies like canids or other wildlife species.” However, Tatarian warns against handling any potential rabies vector by an unvaccinated person.

It could take bats a couple of years before they occupy the house, Tatarian said. “There is no immediately adjacent bat colony, and we don’t know where the nearest one may be, which could serve as a ‘seed’ population, so patience is needed,” he said. “The bat house should be monitored from time to time in the summer by standing in the parking lot and NOT shining lights at the house,” he said. In time, when the house is occupied, Tatarian said quiet groups of people can assemble in the parking lot and watch them emerge at twilight.

Patricia Winters, the education and rehabilitation director of the California Bat Conservation Fund, will be coming to campus in March to give a “bat chat” complete with live bats. Rizzoli is also working with Carol Rhodes, professor of biology at Cañada, to incorporate the bats into learning opportunities.

Rizzoli said the bat house is also helping the San Mateo County Community College District achieve “gold” rating status with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System for the Facilities Maintenance Center.

 

For more information, contact Robert Hood, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, at hoodr@smccd.edu or 306-3340