MACON, Ga. — Usually at night, people count sheep.
However, this summer, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is asking folks to count bats instead.
They squeak and chitter. They’re furry, only come out at dusk, and fly away in a blink of an eye.
They're bats!
“We have 16 different species of bats in Georgia,” says DNR Wildlife Biologist Trina Morris.
She says if you see a bat house, which is a small metal box perched on a 10 foot pole or an old building, keep an eye on them.
“DNR can't go count every bat house in everyone's backyard, but if people put them up and get bats, or get bats in their barn, they count them every year then we can monitor those populations and get an idea if they're having issues,” explains Morris.
That's because bats are having issues.
Morris says bat populations they've observed in North Georgia have declined almost 90%.
“Some of our species have been suffering from white nose syndrome. It's a fuzzy white growth on the nose and wings of the bats. It infects their skin and causes lesions,” she says.
Morris says they want to monitor bats to make sure they stay okay in all aspects, so if there is something abnormal, they can intervene and try to help.
They're also important to our environment.
“All 16 of our species eat insects and that’s what they do all night long,” Morris says. “They are providing pest control for us that we don't even realize.”
They're also major pollinators. They can spread seeds and pollen all over the world.
Without them, it'd be hard to have mangoes and cashews; and they even shape the way our landscapes look.
“Once they're gone, we'll start to see that break down, and it may take a while, but all of us know we’ve seen an increase in insects in agricultural systems. We’re not sure how those systems were in the past because we’ve lost a significant number of bats on the landscape over time just from habitat loss,” said Morris.
So, as a part of the North American bat monitoring program, the DNR - and some volunteers - have installed bat houses or roosts to public areas, or their own yards.
The DNR’s bat house is at the Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences.
Volunteer Ethan Hatchett is Macon's official bat counter.
“The bats sort of spill out of the bat box. Five here, five there,” Hatchett explains. “All of a sudden it's just over."
Hatchett says they usually come out around 8:30 p.m.
He logs what he sees on the DNR’s website which asks data like what the weather was like, what kind of bat you saw, the temperature, and how many bats were counted.
We saw the Mexican Free Tailed bat. It’s one of the most common bats in Georgia aside from the Big Brown bat.
“It has big ears and an upturned nose. Sort of like a Dracula-looking bat,” Hatchett describes.
He says he checks on them once a month, and he's happy to help conserve bats.
If you want to help count bats you can visit the bat house at the Museum of Arts and Sciences.
Or you can even build your own bat house!
Instructions for that are here.