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The Okanagan is home to at least 14 different species of insect-eating bats – the highest diversity of bats in the province. Supporting pollinators in your garden helps to support bats as they prey on insects at night. Since bats are active from dusk to dawn, having night-blooming flowers in your garden attracts nighttime moths which are a great source of protein for bats. This practice is called moonlight gardening!
Join us in cultivating bat-friendly gardens and nurturing the rich biodiversity of the Okanagan:
1. Start planning early. Choose native perennial plants with long flowering seasons or those that flower at different times of the year.
2. Variety is key! Pick plants with different flower colour, shape, and fragrance. White flowers attract nocturnal insects like moths that bats find delicious.
3. Wait until temperatures stay consistently above 10°C before you start to rake and prune. Many pollinating insects are wintering in dead leaves and hollow stems of last-year plants. Bats sometimes also sleep under leaves and in wood piles.
4. Invasive species like burdock can entangle bats and birds. Regularly remove weeds from your garden. If you plan on harvesting burdock, please be responsible and prune out the flowers before they go to seed and become traps for bats. 
5. Pesticides and chemical fertilizers kill insects and poison wildlife. Practice organic gardening by avoiding chemical products. Try composting to provide organic nutrients in your garden.
6. Fact: Bats can fertilize gardens with their nitrogen-rich guano (bat poop).
7. Switch outdoor light bulbs to “warm” toned or filtered LEDs (under 3,000K) to reduce light pollution that harms bats and other animals. Dimmers, motion sensors, and timers can help to reduce illumination and save energy.
8. Keep cats indoors or supervised outdoors to avoid predation on bats and birds.
9. Keep dead-standing trees (if it is safe to do so) and mature trees on your property to provide roosting areas for bats. Bats like to roost behind peeling tree bark and bark crevices.
10. If you have a lake, creek or wetland by your house – great! Protect natural water-side vegetation; it provides vital food, shelter and water for nocturnal insects and bats.
11. Consider adding a garden pond to create a biodiversity oasis in your backyard. Ponds need to be at least 3m wide to serve as effective drinking sources for bats.
For more information on bat-friendly gardening and recommended plants for the Okanagan region, please refer to our informative poster. (Images 2,3). Our gratitude to our funding partners; the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, Habitat Stewardship Program, Forest Enhancement Society of B.C., the South Okanagan Conservation Fund, Regional District of South Okanagan, Regional District of North Okanagan, and the Province of B.C.
Bats and Agriculture: Bats are vital to agriculture around the world, saving farmers millions of dollars, and cutting down the amount of toxic pesticides and fertilizers used to protect crops and increase yields. Read more…
Safe Alternatives to Round Up and similar toxic pesticides for your Bat Friendly Garden:
Scientific Bat Links:
E-Fauna BC: Detailed, scientific information about BC Bats.
Everyday bat vocalizations contain information about emitter,
addressee, context, and behavior
Yosef Prat, Mor Taub & Yossi Yovel
Animal vocal communication is often diverse and structured. Yet, the information concealed in animal vocalizations remains elusive. Several studies have shown that animal calls convey information about their emitter and the context. Often, these studies focus on specific types of calls, as it is rarely possible to probe an entire vocal repertoire at once. In this study, we continuously monitored Egyptian fruit bats for months, recording audio and video around-the-clock. We analyzed almost 15,000 vocalizations, which accompanied the everyday interactions of the bats, and were all directed toward specific individuals, rather than broadcast. We found that bat vocalizations carry ample information about the
identity of the emitter, the context of the call, the behavioral response to the call, and even the call’s addressee. Our results underline the importance of studying the mundane, pairwise, directed, vocal interactions of animals.
Learn more… https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/bat-chatter-is-more-than-a-cry-in-the-dark/
BC Bats Reports: White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging fungal disease that results in high mortality of susceptible bat species. Not yet detected in British Columbia, it is spreading northwards in Washington State and is expected in BC in the near future. The BC Annual Bat Count is one potential method to assist with monitoring the spread of the disease, identify species-specific impacts, and track recovery of affected species. The Annual Bat Count involves repeated emergence counts at bat roosts in anthropogenic structures including buildings, bridges, and bat boxes. Read more… https://beepspeachland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Annual-Bat-Count-Report-2023_24-compressed-1.pdf
Videos:
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Bat Appreciation Day April 17, 2022, with Rachel Truant
Life of a Greater Horseshoe Bat (48 minutes). Beautiful French documentary about life for a Horseshoe Bat colony by the Camargue in southern France. Subtitles available.
Greater Horseshoe Bats in HD Thermal Infrared (9 minutes). Wonderful thermal imaging of a colony inside and outside a historic roost in the UK. See bats flying through the forest in infrared!
Dave’s Gabriola Bat Box (5 mins) Bats emerging from a rocket box at dusk on Gabriola Island.
Bats and Bridges: (1 hour:14 minutes) Webinar on using guano sampling for species inventories and Pd (White Nose Syndrome) surveillance.
Bats and the Fountain of Youth: Dr. Joe Schwarcz on the benefits of bats: (3:34 mins) Quick interview from McGill University, with some fascinating facts.
Meet the Bats of BC with Dr.Cori Lausen: (Length 1hour: 52minutes) Everything you always wanted to know, and more about the Bats of BC, as part of the Wetlands Institute Speaker Series 2021.
White Nose Syndrome WNS: (Length 5.5 minutes) A team of US scientists explores a cave hibernacula to determine if WNS has affected the bats there. In a controlled study, they have treated a number of the inhabitants with a medication which they hope will prevent or discourage the spread of the disease.
The Goldilocks Approach to Bat Houses: (Length 15 minutes: 35 seconds), Join Dr. Cori Lausen as she outlines the need and best practices and tips for successful bat house locations.
Roosts for Tomorrow – Putting Bat Boxes into Context: (length 1 hour) A detailed exploration of Why, When Where and how we can and must mitigate habitat loss with Dr. Cori Lausen.
Bat Song for Kids: Animated, cute song all about bats.
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