By Greg Ellison

Staff Writer

(Oct. 24, 2019) Based on the buzz generated by a bat box-building station at the second annual Bay Day in Ocean Pines last month, the Maryland Coastal Bays Program is sponsoring its first “Bat Box Bash” next Tuesday in the White Horse Park Pavilion from 5-7 p.m.

Chandler Joiner, who develops educational programs for the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, said the event on Oct. 29 would include a talk from Dr. Aaron Hogue, biological sciences associate professor at Salisbury University.

The cost to participate in the workshop is $80, with seven slots remaining for the dozen bat boxes planned for production, Joiner said. The public is invited to attend Hogue’s presentation and to watch the bat box building. Finished bat roosts will head home that day with their architects.

“It can be a family affair putting this together or an individual can build it,” she said.

“Just because of the turnaround from Bay Day and our desire to have as many installed by winter, this one does require a registration fee but people can be on the lookout this spring, hopefully, for some free workshops,” she said.

Joiner noted the importance of providing bat boxes before winter is because they will provide a safe space for bats during their cold weather hibernation cycle.

“It typically takes about a season for a lot of bats to become attracted to it,” she said.

The boxes are coated with a special heat-absorbing paint primer.

“That paint absorbs heat throughout the day … so they can stay warm in the evenings,” she said.

While deferring to Hogue as the actual expert on the topic, Joiner said the

Photo courtesy: Ocean Pines Association
Ocean Pines Association Board member Tom Janasek assists youths build bat roosts during the Bay Day event last month in White Horse Park, which helped spawn the “Bat Box Bash,” slated for Tuesday from 5-7 p.m.

or Myotis lucifugus, are the most common bats throughout the U.S. and serve as crucial pollinators.

“They really enjoy drinking nectar from flowers,” she said. “The pollen collects on their fur and they transfer it to more flowers.”

Measuring about 4-6 inches, with wingspans around nine inches, little brown bats also provide vital pest control services, Joiner said.

“One little brown bat can eat over 1,000 insects in an hour,” she said. “If we did not have bats, we would be overrun with mosquitos.”

Despite the scary image attached to bats, Joiner said little brown bats pose no threat.

“They do not directly attack humans [and] are not aggressive in that way,” she said. “They’re just very small cute animals, to me at least.”

While measuring a mere six-inches wide by about two-feet long, a bat box can accommodate hundreds of bats.

“They’re not very big and little brown bats roost close together and always … in colonies,” she said.

Joiner invited all interested parties to attend for potential do-it-yourself lessons and to her the Hogue presentation on bat habitats and related conservation issues.

For more information or to register email cjoiner@mdcoastalbays.org or call 410-213-2297 ext. 107.