We have been counting bats for the Pennsylvania Game Commission state-wide survey since the 1990s. At one time in the 90s we had the second largest maternal bat colony in the state. Bats were living in the house eaves, in the shed, in the space between the porch ceiling and the roof, and in a bat house we put up for them.
We liked our bats. They were fun to watch, they were harmless, and they kept down the bug population.
Unfortunately our bats were not immune to “white nose syndrome,” a disease which struck bats down by the millions and has spread to almost all states east of the Mississippi. In the past three years our bats numbered in the single digits.
Until this year. A few weeks ago when I was coming back from the truck patch, I noticed some bats flying from below the slate roof at Kibler School, the museum owned by the Palmerton Area Historical Society just east of our house. We counted them emerging at dusk twice this week. We got 55 on the first count and 59 on the second count. They’re back!
Palmerton resident Bob Reinhart is building us some new bat houses, and I’m hoping in 2016 we’ll be back to over a hundred. I’m optimistic.
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