I thought this would be the appropriate thread to post an article that I thought was cool because my brother is quoted in it and its about bats.
http://www.recordnet.com/daily/news/...81904-gn-4.php
Evicted bats return to Thornton bridge site
By David Siders
Record Staff Writer
Published Thursday, August 19, 2004
THORNTON -- Bats that had been evicted from under an old farm-truck bridge on the San Joaquin/Sacramento County line are back.
That's good news for the bats and for nearby farmers, too.
The dilapidated Franklin Boulevard/Thornton Road bridge was closed after floods in 1997 ruined wood pilings under it and caused it to sag. Bats roosting under it were kicked out ahead of a bridge reconstruction that is to be finished in November.
Lately, however, bridge watchers have noticed construction crews have company underfoot.
Seven thousand bats have been counted so far under the replacement bridge, which was designed with bat-friendly, redwood-lined crevices installed in the concrete, said Craig Moyle, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Department of Environmental Review and Assessment.
"If you're quiet, you'll hear them chirping," he said.
The bats that are back are just a fraction of the once 40,000-strong. Persuading them to leave the redwood bridge in the first place required caulking shut the crevices in which the bats slept, or covering them with mesh, Moyle said.
"Every night they would go out there for weeks on end plugging up the old crevices," he said.
The bats moved into trees and bat houses erected nearby, he said.
The replacement bridge, like its predecessor, spans the Mokelumne River, connecting two farm-to-market roads. The bats benefit the local farm economy by eating crop-assaulting insects, said Tim Hawkins, an environmental analyst with the Sacramento County Department of Environmental Review and Assessment.
Moyle said insects swarm the area near the bridge.
"The bats are there for a reason," he said.
The $13.5 million replacement bridge has room for 600,000 bats, but it is unclear how many will return to roost there. It is difficult to count how many might remain in the surrounding trees, Hawkins said.
"We're crossing our fingers and waiting until next year to see," he said. "There's not much we can do to lure them."
The bridge has apparently been lure enough. Moyle said the bats sleep there because it is warm, and fly out from under the bridge in waves to feast on insects when the sun sets.
Moyle said the bats are almost undetectable during the day, except for droppings on the ground that look like "burnt Rice Krispies."
Hawkins said he was surprised any bats had returned yet at all. He said he figured the construction overhead would scare them away.
The federal government is paying about 80 percent of the reconstruction of the bridge; San Joaquin and Sacramento counties are contributing the rest.
**my brother is the Environmental Analyst