On the last Friday of school holidays – a group of eager bat enthusiasts joined Joe Tonga – the “Bat Man” in the corridor (on Earth Day) to learn more about our local resident microbats!
These shy, inconspicuous nocturnal mammals play an important role in our ecosystem by controlling flying-insect populations. They use echolocation to navigate their hunt at night-time when they are most active.
“The Myotis microbat that lives near waterways has been recorded catching over 1200 flies in under 1 hour.”
During daylight hours, microbats spend a lot of time in hollows of tree trunks or branches. The clearing of trees causes a major lack of habitat, therefore the installation of multiple bat boxes around the corridor provides them with essential nesting sites.
Check out some of the photo’s and videos below!
All images by Christine Athanassiou. Date: 22 April 2022. Location: Bibra Lake