Sunday, March 09, 2008

Going Batty

Turned a bit cold here in Hotlanta this weekend. We are usually well into the spring like weather by mid March and we actually had snow showers yesterday morning. Strange. All the daffodils are blooming and the Bradford pears are just now coming out as well as the red bud and some of the early cherries. Won't be long before the azaleas and dogwoods get with it. Spring is really the nicest and prettiest time in Atlanta, even with all the development there are still a lot of trees and green and in the spring the whole city is in bloom.

Busy this weekend building a bat box. I'm going to try and attract a colony of bats and see if I can get them to roost. The box I am building will fit about 80 bats which I think will be a nice start. I got excited about bats last year when I was in Round Rock, Texas and got to witness the evening departure of the large colony that lives under an overpass there. Several million bats. There is even a larger colony in downtown Austin that also occupy an interstate overpass. The Texas Highway department specifically designs the bridges so that they will attract and provide sanctuary for bats. Bat Conservation International is based in Austin, TX. if you are interested in reading more about why it is important to try and conserve bats. There are several organizations that are buying the land that holds bat caves here in the southeast and setting up preserves. A lot of the bat caves were damaged by spelunkers and nesting habitat for bats is scarce. A single bat can eat up to a thousand mosquitoes in a night and I would much rather let the bats bite them than me...especially now that we have West Nile and the Bird Flu to deal with.

I will keep the world posted on whether we have any success.

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