OBC Executive Director and Bat Zone Bats on National Geographic
Kim Williams, Executive Director of the Organization for Bat Conservation, appeared on National Geographic Televisions Bug Attack this summer 2005. The show is hosted by Phil DeVries, the Director of the Center for Biodiversity Studies at the Milwaukee Public Museum. He is aslo an entomologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. DeVries came with a documentary crew from National Geographic to film Kim Williams at the Bat Zone at Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The purpose was to compare bloodsucking insects to the only blood-drinking mammal: vampire bats. Williams and Devries were filmed inside the vampire bat enclosure as they discussed their feeding behavior.

Janell Cannon Receives 2005 OBC Bat Conservation Award
The author of many children’s books, including “Stellaluna,” was awarded the 2005 Bat Conservation Award by the Organization for Bat Conservation founders, Kim Williams and Rob Mies. The award was presented to Ms. Cannon after her presentation on the first day of Bat Fest 2005 at Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

New Bats at the Bat Zone
New bats arrived this summer at the Bat Zone. 20 Jamaican fruit bats (Artibeus jamaicenisis) were flown from the National Zoo in Washington D.C. The zoo’s bat exhibit had closed and the bats needed to find a new home. The Bat Zone all ready had 3 Jamaican fruit bats, a small fruit eating bat from Central and South America. The new bats are adjusting well to their new home. Please stop by to meet them!

Love the OBC Triple-chamber Bat House
My husband and I bought 11 acres of rural / wooded land last spring in Venango County, Western PA and are "developing" it as a personal wildlife refuge. Birds, bears, deer, turkey, fox, nocturnal mammals, etc. wander through the property. This summer we replaced the roof, and in doing so, discovered that at least two bats were living behind the vinyl siding / chimney / possibly in attic. Small brown bats, most likely, i.e. nothing out of the ordinary.
The siding is light green, and faces to the east, approximately 10-11 feet off the ground. We researched bat houses, and we liked the OBC Triple - celled the best. It had the long landing pad, and a small opening throughout which they could determine the box was hollow. We ripped out the vinyl siding, painted the box black, mounted it where the bats were heard, and within 5 days or less, one moved it! The other took up residence under the drip edge behind the soffit / facia. Your houses really work!!
We had considered mounting it on a nearby light pole, or mature tree further away, but both seemed too dangerous for my husband to be up on a ladder. The ground is rock so installing a pole seemed remote. Besides, we figured if the bats living behind the siding didn't mind facing east, and being only 11 feet up, then so be it. That's where we mounted the house. Now, we'd like to figure out how to encourage a hoard of bats to move in.
We see plenty of un-occupied bat houses in our hikes, and it's really a
shame that well - meaning persons don't use well-designed bat house such as yours.
Vaughan Boleky
Utica, PA

Happy Ending Bat Story
Our house is really old, built by homesteaders in about 1870 in Lapeer, MI farm country. Needless to say, we are accustomed to it being something of an ecosystem unto itself, and we like to think we co-exist peacefully with the creatures that share our property (except the mice, wolf spiders, and wasps, when they come inside & get too uppity).
One summer, about a year or two after we moved in, we noticed bats streaming from out of our eaves - we usually lost count at about 65 or so. We lived with the colony of Big Browns for about two years when we decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to have them within the house under our eaves. Besides, not only did we fear damage to our home, they were starting to make their way into the house more frequently, leading to an increasing number of evening bat "shoo-ings." Once fall had safely hit about three years ago, we hung up a large bat house (a veritable bat condominium) on the side of the house next to their entryway. Next, we carefully excluded them from their roost with staples, duct tape, and a piece of screen over their entryway, so once out, they could not re-enter. After that, we sealed up the entry hole with expanding foam, and figured that was the end of it.
I guess we just were too busy to notice that they had decided at some point they weren't done living here. Last week, we noticed bats swooping around the sealed area. Apparently it wasn't completely sealed or they had somehow poked out some of the sealant, and our colony now numbered approximately 40 Big Browns. I called a company of "bat specialists" who said that it was still early enough in the season to exclude the bats - so long as we did it immediately. 2 nights ago, my husband climbed up a ladder at about 11:30 PM and we repeated the process of exclusion. Unfortunately, one tiny voice was still left behind.
One bat had been left behind, and we figured we were lucky it was only one, sad as it may have been. But somehow, after nearly 48 hours of squeaking, the little guy managed to squeeze through a crack and get into our upstairs office. There he, a tiny, hairless baby barely 2 inches from nose to tail, was found clinging tenaciously to an inside window screen and still chirping his head off. My husband carefully put the baby into a shoebox with breathing holes cut into it, and called me at work at about 6:00 PM. I immediately hit the OBC web-site, called the number, and got the phone message to go to basicallybats.org for after-hours help. I'd like to thank Diane Naggar, the closest contact person I could find in Michigan on the basicallybats.org web-site, for her help and advice. We got some water into the poor little guy, and decided to take a chance on reuniting him with his family.
Tonight we got to witness a beautiful sight. We carefully placed the baby on an outside window screen just underneath the bat condo at dusk and waited. It wasn't long before part of our colony returned to hunt the first evening bugs & beat angrily against their sealed-up doorway, and in short time, two of the bats appeared highly agitated by the baby's calls. One landed on the screen next to the baby briefly several times before it finally landed next to the baby. Then, after sitting with the baby for a few minutes - and I don't know how it managed to do it - the adult bat (we think it was "Mama") picked up the baby, because the chirping was now coming from a small bat pile on top of the roof. Were the two bats that came to the rescue the Mamma and Daddy bat? I didn't know bats had such close-knit families. At any rate, it was a beautiful reunion, only slightly marred by the fact that when we returned to the house, my husband had to shoo what I think was "Daddy" out of an open window in the upstairs office. I got a good, up close & personal look at it - a big, strapping Big Brown flapping around in circles.
I guess we're going to have to look over the roof for entryways yet again tomorrow after the sun comes up. We still have no clue how they keep getting into the eaves or into the upstairs office, but at least we were very happy to see a tiny family together again. We love our bats!
Jeff & Cinda (& Lord only knows who else) Steenson

Humbug Marsh
About seven years ago, my friend Tracy O’Keefe and I attend an Earth Day Event at the University of Michigan Dearborn held by the Detroit Audubon Society. While there, we met Patricia Hartig a member of the Trenton Planning Committee. She told us about a great piece of natural heritage, Humbug Marsh. The Marsh is located in the cities of Gibraltar and Trenton. It turns out Humbug Marsh is 465 acres of unique fish and wildlife habitat. Humbug Marsh is the last mile of natural shore of the Detroit River on the U.S. side. She mentioned some of the rare wildlife that could be seen there, including osprey.

Humbug Marsh was purchased as part of a wetlands mitigation deal, a conservation easement was placed on the wetland to protect it so the purchaser could destroy wetlands elsewhere in Michigan. The conservation easement was intended to protect the Marsh in purity. However, there was a loophole. The conservation easement stated that Humbug Marsh was to be preserved in purity until the state and the new owners decide other wise.
Pat went on to say that the land had been sold to a developer who was going to the state Department of Environmental Quality, who represents the State for permits, to build a housing development complete with golf course and marina. When the planned development went to the Trenton planning Committee, Patricia felt that if the land was meant to be saved, then it and should be. Patricia decided to fight the development. She was asking for signatures for a petition to tell the DEQ not to issue the permit to develop Humbug Marsh.
That’s how it all started for Tracy and me. Next thing we know, we are gathering signatures to save this land we’ve never even seen. The fact that it was one of the only places in south east Michigan that osprey have been seen made it special enough for us. Tracy and I managed to collect over 1, 000 signatures to go along with thousands of others. Tracy, my daughter Katie and I even held signs that read “SAVE HUMBUG MARSH” outside the fenced area of the marsh.
The most moving event was the first of two public hearings with the MDEQ and the developer, as they made their case for overturning the conservation easement and apply for a wetland permit. I had never attended a public hearing before, and I didn’t know what to expect. There were over 1,500 people trying to pack into a high school gymnasium to speak about this issue. Ninety five percent of the people wanted to save the wetland.
I followed the issue for a long time while the case was tied up in the courts. The paper stopped covering it and I lost touch with the group that started the battle. I heard a few years back, through the enviro grapevine, that the marsh had been saved. However, I did not know by whom. I received a phone call from Emily Darany from the US Fish and Wildlife Service in July of 2005. She told me that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service had acquired a piece of land that represented the last stretch of undeveloped shoreline on the Detroit River. I replied, “Humbug Marsh?” She confirmed it was the marsh, which is now part of The Detroit International Wildlife Refuge. She was interested in having OBC survey the land for bat habitat. OBC was happy to help and I was privileged to be able to accompany the director, Rob Mies, for the job.
This was a huge opportunity for me. I could now see what I was fighting for years ago. There are few roads on the property. We drove the two roads that cover the up land area. The dead trees where not large enough to support a maternal colony, though Rob mentioned that he did see a few good foraging sites. A deer tail leads the way to the shoreline. Along the way, we saw some majestic 200-year-old oak trees and some nice big shag bark hickories that may provide roosting for a few bats. When we made it to the shore, the sight was awesome. In the ten minutes we stood at the waters edge, we saw endless cattails, ducks, terns, a great white egret, and just as we where about to leave, the moment I had hoped for, an osprey came from over the water and flew right over our heads. In that minute, it was all worth it. I watched my efforts to save Humbug Marsh come full circle. It was deserving of Tracy and my time and dedication. We can, and did, make a difference!
OBC was very happy to be part of this wonderful conservation story. We concluded that Humbug March has good foraging habitat. However, not many good roosting sites are available. We are recommending to the USFWS the placement of bat houses on the property to encourage the bats to stay.

Bat Fest 2005 Summary
The Organization for Bat Conservation hosted Bat Fest 2005 at Cranbrook Institute of Science on July 29th and 30th, 2005. 1,863 people attended the festival; most were from Michigan. Participants also traveled from 6 other states and Canada, including Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Ontario, Kentucky, and Florida. Jannell Cannon, award-winning author and illustrator of Stellaluna, spoke on Friday July 29th. On Saturday, July 30th, the festival featured bat experts from around the Great Lakes Region, including Dr. Allen Kurta from Eastern Michigan University, Rob Mies and Kim Williams from the Organization for Bat Conservation, Bill Scullon from MDNR Wildlife Division, and several others. Educational programs ran continually from 10 AM to 6 PM on Saturday, July 30. Some of the topics included vampire bat behavior, bats of the Great Lakes, endangered Indiana bat, the role of abandoned mines as hibernating sites for bats. Other programs discussed the backyard bat house, public health concerns, bat friendly ways to evict bats from a residence, echolocation, bats and zoos, managing your land for bats and other wildlife, bat conservation efforts, and much more. The important role of wetlands and wetland wildlife was also presented. A family BBQ and live music was organized from 6PM to 8PM. Live bats from around the world were shown at a variety of programs presented by the Bat Zone educators, and included common Great Lake insect-eating bats, and large flying fox fruit bats from Africa. An evening event next to the Rouge River on Cranbrook’s Campus was the highlight of the festival. The bat scientists heard many bats on bat detectors, showed research techniques, and educated the group of participants. Throughout the event, there were kids activities, author signing, free literature about bats, live animals on exhibit, informational displays, and a bat store. Fred Lavery Company of Birmingham, Michigan was the major sponsor of Bat Fest 2005!

4th Annual Great Lakes Bat Festival Summary
The Organization for Bat Conservation, in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Division, and the MDNR Nongame Wildlife Fund, Tourism Association of the Dickinson County Area, Wildlife Unlimited of Dickinson County, and DTE Energy hosted the 4th Annual Great Lakes Bat Festival. The festival was held in Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula. Over 1,500 people attended the festival. Many were from Michigan and Wisconsin, and also included participants from several other states. This two-day festival took place at the picturesque Pine Mountain Resort in Iron Mountain, Michigan, August 12th and 13th, 2005. The festival featured bat experts from around the Great Lakes Region, including Dr. Allen Kurta from Eastern Michigan University, Rob Mies and Kim Williams from the Organization for Bat Conservation, Bill Scullon from MDNR Wildlife Division, and several others. Live bats from around the world were shown at a variety of programs presented by the Organization for Bat Conservation, and included common Great Lake insect-eating bats, and large flying fox fruit bats from Africa. An evening event at the famous Millie Hill Mine was the highlight of the festival. This important site in the Great Lakes Region houses at least 25,000 bats from August through April each year.
On Friday, August 12th, nearly 200 people came to a special mine tour at the Iron Mountain Iron Mine in Vulcan, Michigan. The participants were treated to an hour-long presentation about local mining history and the importance of bats and mines. Programs ran continually from 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, August 13th. Topics included: bats of Michigan and other Great Lake states, the role of abandoned mines as hibernating sites for bats, the backyard bat house, public health concerns, bat friendly ways to evict bats from a residence, managing your land for bats and other wildlife, bat conservation efforts, and much more. The important role of wetlands and wetland wildlife was also presented. The highlight of the festival was an evening program at Millie Hill Mine in Iron Mountain that drew over 400 people. One of the largest known populations of over-wintering big and little brown bats in Michigan uses this abandoned iron mine. (The MDNR protected the site in 1993 by the installation of at large bat cage that allows the bats to come and go freely but keeps people out). During the evening program, researchers demonstrated bat detectors-used to pick up the ultrasonic calls from bats, answered questions, and captured bats using nets. Some of the captured bats were fitted with special glow markers that enable researches to follow the bats as the feed on insects during the night. The glow markers are similar to a child’s glow stick and simply fall off the bat after a couple of hours. Throughout the 2-day event, there were kids activities, informational displays, and a bat store with lots of fun stuff to take home.

Our Bats and Hurricane Charlie Recovery
Punta Gorda, Florida
April 12, 2005
The day after Hurricane Charlie swept through our area, we arrived home not knowing what to expect. Among our losses were our two most populated bat houses that were blown off our boat dock during the storm. We only hope that the little creatures heeded some warning like some animals do and fled the area. After Charlie, we had birds with only one tail feather coming to our feeders.
Repairs and recovery have occupied our time. On the list of repairs and replacements were the bat houses. We called the Organization for Bat Conservation some months later and ordered two houses to replace the ones we lost and an extra-large one to install on top of a piling away from the dock. We had the piling installed before the storm thinking that the bats would be safer from predators like snakes and raccoons. After the first was installed, we ordered a second extra-large one to balance out the first. The installation was a little shaky with a ladder balanced on a boat, but we managed. My husband even installed tin roofs on the new houses to match our own house. Our metal roof protected our home during the storms.
Such good news. After the new bat houses were installed the bats came back within days! Of course we don't know if they are returnees or new occupants. There are a total of seven houses on and around the boat dock and we think they are all occupied. It is fun to watch them come swooping out after sunset. The bats still seem to prefer the houses from the Organization for Bat Conservation. We should also note that the bats have more choices for housing in this part of Florida since many home attics are still readily accessible due to delayed repairs. Two screech owls took up residence in the attic above our bedroom before we replaced soffits and ceilings. We left an opening so they could come and go until they found another home.
Having our bat houses filled with bats again is another thing to celebrate as we continue our recovery from the storms. We send our thanks to the Organization for Bat Conservation for the speedy delivery of the new houses for the little furry creatures.
Dave and Sylvia Phillips