IBCP roost surveys
A typical bat house. Image by Yaquina (CC 2.0).
If you know of a nearby bat roost or are interested in creating roosts yourself, we have resources to help you get started. The information presented here allows you to become involved in Illinois bat research through three approaches: bat roost reporting, bat roost emergence counts, & building a bat house.
Bat Roost Reporting
Do you know of a bat roost in Illinois? We’d love to hear about it and add information on the roost to our growing database of information about Illinois bats. These data will help biologists at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources develop management strategies to ensure Illinois bats are a part of our future. Signs of a bat roost include seeing bats flying in and out of a tree or structure, seeing the bats within a structure, or guana piles inside a structure.
- Fill out our roost form! (online form)
Roost Emergence Counts
A “rocket box” style bat house. Photo by Rusty Clark, 3 Dec 2011 (CC 2.0).
If you’ve filled out a bat roost form above and have been in contact with our staff, it may be time to conduct a roost emergence count. Please work with us in advance before conducting a roost count – we don’t want to have multiple groups counting the same roost, for example, as that would unnecessarily disturb the bats. Please use the sunset time and weather link when planning your roost emergence count and recording the weather conditions so our data can be between all our citizen scientists!
- Instructions
- Printable data form
- Fillable datasheet PDF
Be sure to download and save PDF to email back to us!
Sunset time link:
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/
Weather link: http://www.wunderground.com
For an example of what a bat emergence is like, here’s about 1.5 minutes of a roost emergence count:
You can hear some nighttime noises in the video above if you turn up the sound, also you can hear a person whispering – they are keeping track of bat count and whispering so the bats are not disturbed. You’ll see bats emerging from the roost tree, but also moths (food!) flying about. You can also view the video full screen by clicking on the icon on the lower right of the video.
Building a Bat House
Building a bat house and installing it on your property is a great way to help Illinois bats. Habitat loss is one of the largest threats to bats worldwide, and bat houses create homes for dozens, or even hundreds of bats a time. While they come in several different designs, all bat houses serve the same function: homes to protect bats from the elements while they roost during the day and raise their pups. Several organizations make bat houses that you can buy and place on your property. Or if you have some basic carpentry skills you can use the resources below to build a bat house yourself. Rather than reinvent the wheel, here are several links to bat box designs.
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- Bat Conservation International (external link)
- Bat Conservation International (external link)
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- Rocket box style building instructions (PDF file)
- Rocket box style building instructions (PDF file)
Feel free to contact us at thohoff2@illinois.edu if you have any questions.