Join Americorps member Skye Cahoon at this event to build a bat box at the Midcoast Conservancy HQ in Edgecomb!
Participants will work together to build single-chambered bat boxes that can house 50-75 little brown bats each. Everyone will take home a bat box and an informational handout that includes suggestions on where to hang the box. All materials and tools will be provided, except for the final touch of black exterior paint and hanging hardware. This is a beginner friendly event- no previous carpentry experience required!
Late fall is a spooky time of year - full of tricks and treats. Among the witches, goblins, and ghouls, there’s a group of creatures who are more treat than trick- bats!
If you’re a human, bats are essentially harmless. But if you’re an insect, bats sure are spooky. A single little brown bat, which is lighter than a pencil and barely as big as your hand, can eat over 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour! They also eat garden pests like moths and beetles. Some insects flee at the very sound of a bat’s echolocation!
These helpful critters are struggling in the face of widespread disease and habitat loss, but you can help by providing a safe home for them. In return, your bat neighbors will happily protect your garden and yard from unwanted insects.
Any additional donation on top of your registration fee will be given to Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation, the organization that provided the instructions for making and hanging the boxes. MTBC uses a combination of science and photography to save bats by teaching people to live harmoniously with them in order to protect public health, economies, and ecosystems worldwide.
Thank you to Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation for supplying the blueprints, bat box research data, and hanging instructions
Registration is required. ***Rain date is Sunday, November 6, same bat time, same bat place. Registrants will be emailed the night before if we need to use the rain date.