A few bats will be caught and trackers - as seen here - will be attached.
A few bats will be caught and trackers - as seen here - will be attached.
Waipawa‘s rare shed bats have become quite well-known in the New Zealand bat world.
As far as is known, this is the only colony that is continually using a shed to roost in. That makes them very unique, but this unusual behaviour also suggests they don’t have lots of roosts to choose from anymore.
Kay Griffiths, of The Conservation Company, and her team of bat ecologists and volunteers are on a mission to find any other communal roosts that our tiny treasures may be using.
This work started last autumn by attaching small transmitters to a few of the bats and following them. Several roosts were found scattered around the outskirts of Waipawa, and the most exciting thing was finding another shed that is also being used daily by this colony of bats.
Imagine finding out your backyard is home to some native long-tailed bats and you had no idea.
Bat faeces, an indication you may have a colony, look like mouse faeces but without the offensive smell.
That’s exactly what happened last March, and the landowners are thrilled to be hosting them. One of the clues was a pile of bat poo on top of a whole lot of wood stacked in the shed.
Bat poo looks a lot like mouse poo, without the mousy smell.
The quest to find more natural roosts continues this November, when once again a few bats will be caught and trackers attached. Kay is hoping more of their hidey holes will be revealed.
“With a bit of luck we will find more roosts and get them protected in some way. Simply knowing where those roosts are will be a big help,” says Kay.
Most long-tailed bat colonies have lots of communal roosts to choose from and will shift between roosts nearly every day. However, the Waipawa bats behave very differently and return to the same roost every day.
Providing artificial roosts, commonly known as bat boxes or bat houses, may be a great way to also help this colony. Long-tailed bats can be very choosy about where they roost and often don’t use artificial roosts that have been placed out elsewhere in New Zealand so far.
Kay says they are working with some local talent to design something that’s easy to build, provides everything a bat could want and uses modern technology to monitor use.
This work is funded by the DoC Community Fund, Lotteries Environment and Heritage Fund and supported by local DoC and councils.
Central Hawke’s Bay District Council (CHBDC) is encouraging residents to “check before you chop”. This means that any trees due for the chop with potential roosting cavities in them get checked for bats before being felled. The best source of advice is Kay Griffiths at The Conservation Company.
Kate Luff, open spaces manager for CHBDC, says the council is thrilled that these tiny creatures are so prevalent in our district and is happy to support initiatives to help save them from extinction.
