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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>The Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) is sponsoring a free
presentation by naturalist and walk leader <SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">Irwin Schorr titled <B>The Mystery &
Ecology of Bats.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></B>The
talk will take place at the Harwich Community Center (#100 Oak
Street, Harwich, MA 02645) on <B>Saturday, February 14<SUP>th</SUP> at
2:00 pm.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></B>This program promises
to be<B> </B>an intriguing and entertaining program about one of the most
maligned and unusual animals in the world. For the full schedule of HCT's
winter 2009 walks and talks, please visit <A
href="http://www.HarwichConservationTrust.org">www.HarwichConservationTrust.org</A>. <?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>There will also be a brief presentation about the bat box project
described below. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3></FONT></P><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Build it and They Will Roost?</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Bat Boxes at the Bank St. Bogs Nature Preserve</FONT></FONT><BR><BR><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>Thanks to Eagle Scout candidate Zach Lucas and the
scouts of Harwich Troop 76, bats will have several new places to roost at the
60-acre Bank Street Bogs Nature Preserve protected by the nonprofit Harwich
Conservation Trust in Harwich Port.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Zach coordinated the bat box project to build and install 20 bat boxes at
the Preserve.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The Preserve is known
for its diversity of plant and animal species.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is hoped that bats will gravitate
naturally to the roosting boxes given the area’s abundant foraging
opportunities. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Zach is a senior at the Cape Cod Regional Technical High
school.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Zach demonstrated community
leadership in coordinating and completing the bat box project.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As a boy scout, Eagle Scout is the
highest rank and is achieved by less than one percent of all scouts.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Completing a large-scale volunteer
project of more than 100 hours, like the bat box project, is one of the major
requirements for achieving Eagle Scout.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Over the past four months, Zach has designed the approximately two-foot
square boxes, received donations of the materials and guided his fellow scouts
and friends to help construct and mount the roosting boxes on 16-foot tall
posts.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Due to Cape Cod’s temperate
climate, the group then painted the boxes dark brown to keep the internal
temperature optimal for the nocturnal mammals. The group installed the boxes on
the 24<SUP>th</SUP> of January in less than three hours.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This process required holes to be dug
through the frozen ground to a depth of approximately four feet.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The posts were clustered in four
different roosting areas.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The total
project took more than 150 hours.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Bat biology and behavior is
fascinating.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN>Bats are the
only mammals capable of flight.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>There are more than 900 species worldwide and bats comprise the second
largest (next to rodents) group of mammals. About 40 to 45 species reside in the
United States, although some of these are pollinating migrants from Mexico.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nine species can be found in
Massachusetts.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Two common species
that can be found on Cape Cod are the little brown bat (<I>Myotis lucifugus)
</I>and big brown<SPAN class=mw-headline> bat<I> (Eptesicus
fuscus)</I></SPAN>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These two are
colonial bats.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This means that they
roost in groups.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=Default
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; mso-layout-grid-align: auto"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">According to local bat expert, Irwin Schorr, the little
brown bat (<I>Myotis lucifugus</I>) might eat 600 to 1,000 mosquitoes an hour,
but keep in mind that they don't hunt all night. They will eat up to 50-60% of
their body weight each night.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>On
average, the little brown bat weighs 0.33 ounce, is 3.5 inches in length, and
has a wingspan of about 9 inches.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Across the USA, bats eat millions of pounds of insects each night.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">In
winter, some of the bats found locally will migrate to warmer
climates. Some non-colonial bats might crawl under a piece of tree
bark or hunker down in a tree cavity. The big and little brown bats migrate
to the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire, western Massachusetts, and New York
to hibernate in caves and mines. Some big brown bats will use attics, tree
hollows, and barns for hibernacula. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=Default
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; mso-layout-grid-align: auto"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">In
the summer months, the males will usually roost separate from the females.
The females will form colonies tending to their pups in nursery
roosts. These are usually larger and warmer.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN>In the northeast, bats generally
only have one pup a year.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">In winter, the males and
females hibernate together.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Estimating bat populations is challenging to say the least, but Irwin
Schorr recalls reading that about 35,000 bats may summer across the Cape.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The average life span for bats is about
15 years, but it can be shorter. The local record is 34 years for a little
brown bat in Mashpee. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
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face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>In recent decades, bats have been in sharp decline.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This may be due to pesticide use, lower
insect populations, loss of habitat, and a newly discovered infection known as
white nose syndrome, believed to possibly be a fungus.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=Default style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=Default style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Founded in 1988, the nonprofit Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) preserves
land to protect woods, water, wildlife, and our shared quality of life.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>HCT preserves natural areas by receiving
land donations, purchasing land, and holding permanent conservation
restrictions. For more information about HCT's winter schedule of talks and
walks, please visit HCT's website, </FONT><A
href="http://www.harwichconservationtrust.org/"><SPAN
style="COLOR: purple"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>www.HarwichConservationTrust.org</FONT></SPAN></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>, email </FONT><A href="mailto:hct@cape.com"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>hct@cape.com</FONT></A><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">, or call<BR>508-432-3997.<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT
size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Michael W. Lach<BR>Executive Director<BR>Harwich
Conservation Trust<BR>Ph: 508-432-3997<BR>Fax: 508-432-1311<BR>Mailing
Address:<BR>P.O. Box 101<BR>South Harwich, MA 02661<BR>E-mail: <A
href="mailto:hct@cape.com">hct@cape.com</A><BR>Website: <A
href="http://www.HarwichConservationTrust.org">www.HarwichConservationTrust.org</A><BR>HCT
office location: 947 Route 28, South Harwich</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>