Riverside Park prairie bats were banded

In Muscoda

A crew working in the final light of day banded the bats and collected information before releasing them.

3_Bats banding_ end of day — A crew working in the final light of day banded the bats and collected information before releasing them.

MUSCODA - Folks traveling along Muscoda’s North Sixth Street Wednesday evening of last week may have noticed unusual activity in the prairie area where four large bat houses tower over the flowering vegetation.

The banding crew used long poles and lines to put a plastic chute in place that funneled the bats to ground level. - photo by Wendell Smith

2_Bats banding_long poles and lines — The banding crew used long poles and lines to put a plastic chute in place that funneled the bats to ground level. - photo by Wendell Smith

Working beneath the houses was a six-person team from the DNR. Their mission was to capture “little brown bats” that live in the houses and place a band and a tiny computer chip on each animal prior to release.

The goal was to band at least 60 bats of the animals. Little brown bats leave the houses in winter and banding is a method of learning where they spend the winter.

Bats exit the houses at dusk to feed on mosquitoes and other insects. To catch the bats as they began their nightly hunt, workers fashioned a long plastic chute that the animals entered and are then funneled to the banding crew. Those bats were then placed in paper bags to keep them until banding.

The bats were collected by a man at the bottom of the chute and put in paper bags.

1_Bats banding_bats banded — The bats were collected by a man at the bottom of the chute and put in paper bags.

It is estimated that as many 1,300 bats may currently live in the houses that have been in the park for about 25 years, helping control the local mosquito population and perhaps keeping some bats out of home attics or outbuildings.

Environment

Environment