“Bat Chat” in Cloyne

May 26, 2011

Photo: Amy Cameron, a planning ecologist with the MNR, gave a very informative talk about a species that holds a special place in her heart.

It seemed an appropriate introduction to the topic of bats when listeners who came out to the Barrie hall in Cloyne on May 19 to hear Amy Cameron’s talk on the subject were first swarmed by black flies in the parking lot.

Some, who might have come with an aversion to these flying, bug-eating mammals, perhaps had a change of heart when they realized that bats, with their ravenous appetite for insects, do much in keeping these bothersome insect populations at bay.

The talk was sponsored by the Frontenac Stewardship Council, and guest speaker Amy Cameron, a planning ecologist with the MNR, gave a very informative talk about a species that holds a special place in her heart. Cameron came to study and work with bats indirectly as a result of her former work as a renewable energy ecologist studying the placement of wind turbines to avoid bat mortality. “We knew that there were some places where bats hibernated but we had very limited information and knew that more research was needed.”

Her talk covered what she and her colleagues have come to understand as a result of her ongoing studies in basic bat ecology: where bats live; where they hibernate; what they eat; why we should care about them; some of dangers they are currently facing; and what landowners can do to help the bat populations.

There are eight species of bats that live in Ontario, Three - the hoary bat, the silver haired bat and the eastern red bat - fall into the category of the migratory species, which summer here but winter in the southern United States, Mexico and South America. Five of the eight species, the little brown and big brown bat, the eastern small-footed, the northern long-eared, and the eastern pipistrelle, live here all year round and hibernate either in rock crevices and caves, but most frequently in this area, in abandoned mines.

Called hibernacula, these hibernating winter sites, like the MacDonald mine near Bancroft and the Tyendinaga and Bonnechere caves, serve as winter homes to thousands of the five species of Ontario’s hibernating bats. In them the bats hang in clusters for warmth and their hearts slow down to just ten beats per minute as compared to their regular 150. By far the most common bat species in Ontario is the little brown bat, which unfortunately is the species most locally at risk. According to current studies it is expected to be regionally extinct in 16-20 years. A relatively small bat, a single one can nevertheless eat 1000-1500 blackflies and mosquitoes in a single hour. “These bats are a big reason why we can enjoy sitting outside in the summer months and not be annoyed by bugs,” Cameron said.

As far as the threat posed by wind farms, studies show that it is not direct impact with the blades of the turbines that kill the bats but rather some thing called barotrauma. The wind turbines cause a change in atmospheric pressure that causes the bats’ lungs to hemorrhage and collapse, resulting in their death. Amy said that for every one bird killed by a wind turbine 10 bats die as result of barotraumas. Ongoing studies have shown that the best place for turbines is at least 20 metres from a forest edge, since that is where most bat activity takes place.

Unfortunately wind farms are not the only threat to bats in the area. Studies have shown that a fungus called white nose syndrome, named for the white residue found on bats' noses that have died, is the biggest threat to bats in Ontario. Thought to have come to New York via a caver who inadvertently carried the fungus on his caving gear, the fungus has quickly spread to the bat populations throughout North America. It kills the bats by aggravating them during their hibernation period, waking them up and forcing them to move around and expend energy, which in the long term is what kills them.

In an effort to encourage more places for bats to safely reside, Amy showed an example of a properly constructed bat house, which can be easily built to house large numbers of bats. A proper house must be a minimum of two feet in size, painted black, be multi-chambered and must be located on a pole, not a tree, anywhere from 10-30 metres from a forest edge, and in close proximity to water.

Amy and her team are working hard to establish where various species of bats are living, their population sizes, what they are eating and will bring out equipment to band the bats to find out where they are residing in the winter months. “There are still so many questions that need answering and with this important information we are starting to connect the dots.”

Just what is it that drives Amy in this kind of work? “For me, bats represent a very unique piece of our biodiversity and not very many people are interested in trying to figure out just what is happening to them. The risk of losing these bat populations, which do so much for us as far as insect control and ecologically since they help to minimize the need for pesticides, is what we need to keep in mind. We need to monitor and find out as much as we can to ensure their ongoing survival,” she said.

Amy encourages anyone who has bats on their property to contact her so that she and her team can come out and do some research. She can be reached at 613-732-5506 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

More on the subject of bats is coming. This Saturday May 28, the "Real Batman", Matt Saunders will give a kid-friendly free nature talk "The Truth about Bats" at Trinity United Church in Verona, 1pm. See the ad on page 4 for more information.