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If you are outside right after sunset, you have probably noticed that there are a lot of bats flying above you.
The bats you now see in the air over many towns in Connecticut are brown bats that are most active between dusk and dawn, and will not emerge from their roosts until after sunset. Sun. Little brown bats (the most common bat species in Connecticut) emerge two to three hours after dusk. They have a busy and useful job, a single little brown bat can eat 1,200 mosquitoes and nocturnal insects in an hour.
So why does it seem like we see more of it this time of year? Well, according to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, that’s when the young bats finally come out of the roost and learn to fly, so it’s a whole new generation of bats you see.
Even though it looks like there are more bats in the air, the state’s bat population is still reeling from white nose syndrome which has hit the bat population very hard. mouse. White-nose syndrome, also known as SMB, is an epidemic in cave-roosting bat species that causes tragic and significant mortality in hibernating bats in the east and mid-west from North America. The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated in 2012 that 5.7 to 6.7 million bats had perished in the eastern United States and Canada since SMB was discovered in New York in 2006.
You can actually help wildlife experts because DEEP encourages residents to keep an eye out for the bats you see every night and monitor the bat population. Bats found in trouble outdoors from mid-November to mid-March should be reported to the state’s wildlife division. Details of the sighting, including date, location, what you observed, and digital photos if possible, can be submitted by email to the DEEP Wildlife Division at [email protected] or by calling the 860-424-3011.
If you come across a bat or if a bat walks into your house, be careful and don’t get too close. Also, never try to handle one as they can be carriers of rabies, although the threat of a bat you come into contact with the disease is very low. The State of Connecticut Public Health Laboratory performed tests on 459 bats that have been submitted by the public, and only 15 have tested positive for rabies, which is a rate of just 3.3%.
If someone gets stuck in your house, bat experts say the best thing to do is open a window or door in the room, turn off the lights in the room, and turn on an outside light. . Exterior light will attract insects and the thought of a quick insect meal will attack the bat.
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