This past Saturday evening, over 20 community members participated in the "Bats: Friends of the Evening Sky" program offered in partnership with the Center for Wildlife. We all learned about the many myths surrounding bats and the real truths (they don't fly into human hair, there are only 3 species of vampire bats among the over 1,200 species of bats worldwide, and vampire bats do not live in the United States—they live in tropical climates and prey primarily on livestock).

We were amazed to learn, too, that Maine's insectivorous bats eat 1,000 mosquitoes in a single night! The next time a mosquito bites you, think of all the mosquito control bats provide us!

Before heading outside to look for bats and listen with a special bat detector, we met the Center for Wildlife's non-releasable bat ambassador, Brownie (who captured the attention and adoration of all ages in our group)! We also received an update on white nose syndrome, the devastating disease that is affecting bat populations across the eastern coast of the United States. To date, it has killed more than 5.7 million bats, and efforts are now being made to open up old bunkers to provide disease-free and cave-like habitat for surviving populations.

To help bats in our Maine neighborhoods, we constructed bathouses before night's end! Each household participating in Saturday's program went home with a bit of homemade bat habitat to help out our "friends of the evening sky." Many thanks to this caring group of program participants! We are looking forward to hearing your bathouse stories next time you visit!