Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇
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albertabats.bsky.social
Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇
@albertabats.bsky.social
3.9K followers 4K following 1K posts
Alberta Community Bat Program (www.albertabats.ca). Promoting bat conservation, stewardship & education. A program of WCS Canada (Wildlife Conservation Society Canada) and a member of the WCS Canada Western Bat Program.
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albertabats.bsky.social
Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · May 22
Wind energy is essential for a cleaner future, but at what cost to wildlife?

We have created a short 7min documentary highlighting the issues affecting migratory bats in western Canada and across North America. Solutions exist but implementation needs to be encouraged. See below for links.🦇🌎🦊🧪
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇 Wrapped in wings, conserving energy, waiting for spring.
Bats are some of the quiet heroes of winter - resilient, efficient, and essential to healthy ecosystems.

#WinterWildlife #LANO #MYCA #BC #Snugglebuddies
Two Silver-haired bats snuggle with two little California Myotis in a winter hibernation site in British Columbia. Text reads WCS Canada Western Bat Program with WCS Canada logo - Photo by Heather Gates
January 2, 2026 at 9:10 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇We are deeply grateful to our conservation partners, volunteers, and funding organizations whose commitment, collaboration, and generosity make this work possible. Protecting bats - and the ecosystems they support - is a shared effort, and we couldn’t do it without you.
Text reads 2025 - 44 events across Alberta with an estimated audience of 16,410 people! WCS Canada Logo Alberta Community Bat Program. Image is a sunset in SW Calgary at the Weaselhead Flats during a batwalk with the Alberta Wilderness Association - photo by Lindsay Wallis. Added Little Brown Myotis images by Charles Francis. Text reads As of 2025 we have printed 7,500 Activity Books! and most of those have been distributed! WCS Canada logo Alberta Community Bat Program see albertabats.ca for free downloadable pdf. Image of the front cover of the activity guide against a night sky background. Text reads 2025 - We were in the field! Over several net-nights we capture 190 bats! 6 Big Brown Bats, 14 Silver-haired Bats, 1 Western Small-footed Myotis, 3 Long-eared Myotis, 157 Little Brown Myotis and 9 Long-legged Myotis WCS Canada logo Alberta Community Bat Program. Image is a close up of a Northern Myotis captured in a mist net. Photo by Dr. Christina Davy. Text reads 2025 - We deployed 21 bat detectors for winter monitoring! albertabats.ca WCS Canada logo Alberta Community Bat Program Image of Cory Olson installing a bat detector unit and microphone in an area in the Alberta Badlands. Fingers crossed that it is still there in the spring when we retrieve it!
December 31, 2025 at 9:25 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇2025 we produced a great video about bat houses! If you plan on building some this winter - check out this great compilation of all the things you should know before you choose a spot to install one! (and feel free to subscribe to our YouTube Channel!) #BatFriends

youtu.be/BhJZjQBonkE?...
Supporting Alberta's Bats: The Role of Bat Boxes in Conservation
YouTube video by Alberta Bats
youtu.be
December 30, 2025 at 3:41 AM
albertabats.bsky.social
Important Holiday PSA 🦇
This Hoary Bat confirms it’s Monday.
He also reminds you that napping is acceptable - especially if you brought your own butt blanket.
A beautiful close up of a Hoary Bat by JT Layne - text reads: It's Monday. (just a friendly PSA) Logo WCS Canada Alberta Community Bat Program albertabats.ca with a calendar with the 29th circled.
December 29, 2025 at 4:35 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
As the year comes to a close, we’re feeling grateful 🦇✨

In 2025, the Alberta Bat Program participated in 43 outreach events & reached 10,000+ people across Alberta.

Year-end donations help us continue this work into the new year.

Thank you for supporting bats this season 💚
Donate link in comments
Close up photo of the face of a Little Brown Myotis by Jason Headley - Text reads Happy Holidays - Alberta Community Bat Program - WCS Canada logo - Alberta Community Bat Program - albertabats.ca
December 24, 2025 at 4:27 AM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇🧪🌎Question the Mark: A Review and Assessment of Bat Marking Practices - Loeb - 2026 - Mammal Review - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Question the Mark: A Review and Assessment of Bat Marking Practices
We reviewed a decade of research on bats and conducted a broader systematic review to assess the nature of bat marking practices and the effects and efficacy of marks. Effects of marks on bats, mark ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 23, 2025 at 9:37 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🚫 Why are some caves and mines closed in winter?
To protect hibernating bats. These quiet months are critical - undisturbed hibernation can mean the difference between life and death. Closures also help reduce the spread of the fungus (Pd) that causes white-nose syndrome.🦇

#ProtectBats #Alberta
Text reads- Little Brown Myotis are hibernating WCS Canada logo Alberta Community Bat Program albertabats.ca - a group of 8 little brown bats cluster together on the ceiling of a cave in the Alberta Rocky Mountains. Photo by Greg Horne as part of the BatCaver program.
December 23, 2025 at 6:01 AM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇Happy Winter Solstice! The shortest day and the longest night of the year. Wishing everyone a peaceful holiday season.
Photo of a Little Brown Myotis in flight by Brock & Sherri Fenton. The bat has wings outstretched and mouth is open as it echolocates into the darkness. Text reads Happy Winter Solstice www.albertabats.ca with the WCS Canada Alberta Community Bat Program logo.
December 21, 2025 at 11:36 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇Interesting work that is trying to understand the effects of solar energy developments on bats! www.yahoo.com/news/article...
Researchers make surprising discovery after taking closer look at solar farms: 'Pretty exciting'
"We have more evidence."
www.yahoo.com
December 21, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇
wcscanada.org
For the first time 2026, scientists in Alberta are testing a probiotic treatment developed from beneficial bacteria found on healthy western bats. This project brings together science, stewardship & community to give bats a fighting chance #countdownro2026 @albertabats.bsky.social
December 19, 2025 at 5:30 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇Bat Acoustic Analysis Training Course, Kamloops, BC June 15-19, 2026 (see comment for links)
White text on a night sky background - Text reads: Wildlife Conservation Society Canada’s Bat Conservation Program, led by Dr. Cori Lausen, is offering an in-person Bat Acoustic Analysis Training Course in Kamloops, BC, June 15–19, 2026. The course is open to individuals in Canada involved in bat research and conservation. The fee is $2,500 CAD (with potential scaling by participant category). The training will provide hands-on experience with detector deployment, acoustic workflows, and species identification for all Canadian bat species, using Kaleidoscope, SonoBat, and Anabat Insight. Participants will work with real acoustic datasets and gain familiarity with commonly used detectors. Evening field sessions will offer practical experience in active and passive monitoring. Participants should have some prior exposure to acoustic software; however, advanced expertise is not required. A personal laptop is required, and temporary software licenses will be provided in advance. Space is limited, so we are currently gathering expressions of interest to help guide participant selection. Submitting the form does not guarantee a spot but ensures you will be considered. If you are unavailable for the 2026 dates, please complete the first section to be added to our mailing list for future offerings. To be considered for the 2026 course, please complete the form by January 16, 2026. The form can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/WCSBatAcousticCourse. Feel free to reach out to Erin (elow@wcs.org) or Jason at (jrae@wcs.org) if you have any questions. Little Brown Myotis held in a black gloved hand (Photo: Cori Lausen)
December 18, 2025 at 3:33 AM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇#NewVideo!
An update on white-nose syndrome in Alberta and the application of probiotics for the first time (outside of the initial experiment). We will try to keep updating on this story. The plan is to return to this site in spring for bat capture & assessment.
youtu.be/PU2ZnUvwvVY?...
Alberta's first probiotic trial to protect bats
YouTube video by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada
youtu.be
December 9, 2025 at 10:02 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇🧪🌎After a gap of a couple of busy months - we are back with edition #005 of "The Roost Report" - this issue features a basic backgrounder on white-nose syndrome & Pd, and the ways we have been sampling for both.
www.albertabats.ca/white-nose-s...
White-nose Syndrome (The Roost Report #005) - Alberta Community Bat Program
Our fifth edition of The Roost Report highlights white-nose syndrome and our latest monitoring work in Alberta. Roost Reports 005: White-nose Syndrome by Cory Olson
www.albertabats.ca
December 4, 2025 at 11:31 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇NEW REPORT! WCS Canada Western Bat Team & partners:

Insuk, C., et al. 2025. Probiotic prophylaxis for white-nose syndrome – Testing use of a probiotic to reduce bat mortality caused by white-nose syndrome. 7 Nov. 2025, Synthesis Report. DOI: doi.org/10.19121/202...
Probiotic Prophylaxis for White-Nose Syndrome: Testing Use of a Probiotic to Reduce Bat Mortality Caused by White-Nose Syndrome - Chadabhorn Insuk, Adrian Forsythe, Nick Fontaine, Chris Currie, Aime...
Library and Archives
doi.org
December 3, 2025 at 9:07 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇Great new "decon postcard" from whitenosesyndrome.org you can find it under resources in the decon folder (or at this link www.whitenosesyndrome.org/resources/af... )
Post card created by the WNS committee - https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/resources/afd06c44-b7cb-4cc5-94f6-dc3e03f94664 Text reads: Don't give the fungus a free ride - protect bats from white-nose syndrome. When visiting caves, mines or bat roosts... Bring with you: Towel or scrub brush, change of clothing/footwear, trash bags, disinfecting wipes. On site: 1. Brush off or wipe dirt and debris. 2 Swap dirty clothes for clean ones. 3. Bag used clothes, shoes and gear for cleaning. 4. Wipe down gear with disinfecting wipes. 5. Bag and toss disposables. Off site: Non-washable gear - Clean with disinfecting wipes or 70% isopropyl alcohol. Washable Gear - 1. Clean off dirt and debris. 2. Wash on hot with detergent. 3. Soak in 55C(131F) water for 5 minutes OR in 1:10 disinfecting bleach* to water for 10 minutes. 4. Rinse and dry. Footnotes - For disease information and full decontamination protocol including tested products - visit whitenosesyndrome.org Protocol users are responsible for reading and following all product labels. Check gear recommendations before applying cleaners.
December 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
A HUGE % of Canadians appreciate and want to conserve nature and natural habitats but only a SMALL % of us actually donate funds to support that work. It's GIVING TUESDAY - a time to contribute towards conservation work. This year, donations will be matched! (up to $20k) #JustDoIt
Image of a heart and a jar of coins with coins spread around on the surface around the jar. On the right is a bat flying against a black background (image: Brock and Sherri Fenton). Text reads Support bats, Giving Tuesday, Matching Donations 2nd of December - WCS Canada logo, Alberta Community Bat Program - www.albertabats.ca/donate
December 2, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇
battysarah.bsky.social
🦇 in the news!

#bats #lovebats #urbanwildlife

Urban bats avoid street lights when commuting between their roosts and foraging grounds share.google/RNp1fTDImn78...
Urban bats avoid street lights when commuting between their roosts and foraging grounds
Some bat species seek shelter during the day in the attics of large, mostly historic buildings within human settlements, even though they forage for insects at night in the dark surrounding countrysid...
share.google
November 30, 2025 at 11:54 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇#HappyBaturday! A cold, snowy day today in Alberta! We hope the bats at this site in Wood Buffalo National Park are still hibernating safely as seen in this image! Entry into bat hibernation sites is highly restricted. Biologists limit their own entry but visits happen as part of monitoring.
Text reads "Happy Baturday" logo WCS Canada Alberta Community Bat Program www.albertabats.ca Image is from Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta where bats are seen hibernating in a cave. Bats are lined up along a cave overhang and stacked in rows. This site is still free of white-nose syndrome as of fall 2025. Photo: Cori Lausen (entry to this site is restricted and controlled by Parks Canada).
November 29, 2025 at 6:32 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:

🦇Hoary Bat
🦇Silver-haired Bat
🦇Eastern Red Bat (but also found on the west coast)
🦇Spotted Bat
🦇Pallid Bat
secondnaturemb.bsky.social Dr. Heather Hinam 🍁 🇨🇦 @secondnaturemb.bsky.social · Nov 28
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:

Polar bear
Beluga whale
Moose
Wolf
Lynx

(it was hard to pick 5)
napaaqtuk.bsky.social Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · Nov 28
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:

Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
November 28, 2025 at 5:40 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇Fatal attraction: migratory bats are lured to wind turbine blades url: journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
Fatal attraction: migratory bats are lured to wind turbine blades
Wind turbines are important for global energy production because of their low greenhouse gas emissions. However, for unknown reasons, many migratory bats are colliding with the wind turbine blades, le...
journals.biologists.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:38 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇A lot of people think bats try to “get tangled in your hair.”
Nope. These animals fly with precision that would make any fighter pilot jealous. If a bat brushes past you, it chose that line on purpose - and it could’ve flown through a smaller gap if it wanted to.
Image of a woman walking away from the camera with long hair flying in the wind (fr CANVA) - with an image of a small bat flying in the upper right corner of the photo. Text reads "Bats do not get tangled in your hair" albertabats.ca WCS Canada logo - Alberta Community Bat Program
November 25, 2025 at 8:05 PM
albertabats.bsky.social
Bat fact: Bats eat their body weight in insects every night. That’s the equivalent of a 180-lb guy crushing 180 lbs of chicken wings before sunrise. Respect the efficiency.
Image of a Northern Long-eared Bat with a mealworm in its mouth on the left (by Chris Godwin) and an image of a man holding two chicken wings while making "duck face". Text reads albertabats.ca
November 24, 2025 at 1:46 AM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇Here’s the truth: Alberta’s bats are working night shift every single day to keep our forests and crops healthy.
If they disappeared, we’d feel it fast - more pests, more damage, more pesticides.
Small animals. Big impact.
Photo of a Silver-haired Bat in flight by Brock and Sherri Fenton. Image text reads Pest Control - albertabats.ca Logo WCS Canada Alberta Community Bat Program - included are images of moths, a potato beetle and a leaf with eggs on it. Not all moths are pests but bats eat them all and it does impact the bottom line for costs to agriculture.
November 23, 2025 at 12:16 AM
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇White-nose syndrome moves fast &hits hard.
We don’t have the luxury of ignoring it.
Protecting bat habitat, supporting our probiotic project with community involvement, and supporting bat conservation actually matters.
If you care about ecosystems, bats aren’t optional players - they’re core staff.
Text reads White-nose syndrome, save the bats, learn about our probiotics project albertabats.ca WCS Canada logo Alberta Community Bat Program - image of a bat with white-nose syndrome being held in a blue gloved hand by Steve Taylor USFWS
November 20, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇
weaselheadpark.bsky.social
If you missed our AGM you can watch the Bat presentation given by @albertabats.bsky.social here:
#yyc #alberta #bats
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvKR...
From Ecology to Emerging Threats: Understanding How to Protect Alberta’s #Bats
YouTube video by Weaselhead Preservation Society
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:21 AM