I find myself constantly being reminded of the no bats!
The blame.....the white nose fugus?
https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/
I think this is our second or third year with no bats!
The other night on the news, they had an article about the increase in mosquitoes! Everyone around me know my view on this! NO bats is the problem! They were the best control of those pests and so many others!
A cool experience as a kid, going swimming at the lake after haying , we could watch this "black cloud" flying from the top of the hill to the water! Bugs were not a problem!
I had a summer job at a museum a number of decades ago and every morning when I opened, I would do my hunt for bats, finding them curled up in window sills, crock pots , just anywhere! Once found, I would either avoid that area for the day if visitors came or go get the neighbour to take it outside for me! To find them laying about was not a sign of great heath; I didn't know that then! The year before I worked at the museum, the interpreters had become ill in the humid summer. The guano had become toxic. So the museum trustees closed the museum to the public for a couple of week and did some cleaning of the attic of the building. So that disruption of their little ecosystem likely made the bats ill?
I guess I should have continued with my research/science education! I'm only have a diploma in plant science! And the saying when you don't use it you lost it! Is so very true!
In our society, habitat changed; wooden shingles buildings became fewer and fewer...we want low maintenance homes! Everything has to look pretty! Older buildings became fewer and fewer! Old building are a liability to insurance companies! Ecosystems and money!
Now wind energy! Not against this great resource but really feel that this another catalyst in the bat decline! The first turbines were in Amherst; close to the precious bay of Fundy; many bats found along this shore line! Everything is a fragile ecosystem! Consequences to everything we do!
sometimes good! sometime bad! lower the threshold.....lower our/ their resistance!
http://www.batsandwind.org/
I have to agree with everything you said. While I never really liked bats, I certainly appreciated them for what they did. There are no bats now anywhere. Some people have put up bat houses but there are no bats to use them. So sad. I remember as a child, bats were everywhere - we were afraid they would fly into our heads and get caught in our hair. We would run from them, covering our heads and whistling to tell the bats where we were! Simpler times! Our ecosystem is in big trouble! I'm not a fan of the wind farms!
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