Published: June 13, 2009 10:27 pm      

Public asked to help monitor bats

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Game Commission biologists and the White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) Maternity Colony Monitoring Task Group are seeking assistance from residents in a national monitoring effort to collect bat maternity colony data this summer.

“The true impact of WNS on bat populations cannot be determined using estimates from winter hibernacula alone,” said Lisa Williams, game commission wildlife biologist and WNS task group member.

“Now is the public’s chance to assist us in our monitoring effort by hosting a bat count this summer.”

Applications and information on how to participate can be found on the game commission’s Web site (www.pgc.state.pa.us) by clicking the “Appalachian Bat Count” icon.

“Pennsylvania’s two most common bat species, the little brown bat and the big brown bat, use buildings as their summer roosts,” Williams said.

“Abandoned houses, barns, church steeples and even currently occupied structures can provide a summer home to female bats and their young.

“Monitoring these ‘maternity colonies’ can give biologists a good idea of how bat populations in an area are doing from year to year. With the occurrence of WNS in Pennsylvania this year, monitoring these colonies is more important than ever.”