Bat habitat: Alabama Power builds bat boxes to give flying mammals safe havens

It’s Halloween season, so bats are having their day. Actually, it’s Bat Week, so bats are literally having their week.

But apart from this time of year, the flying mammals are not often thought about, even when they could use a little help.

Alabama Power’s Environmental Affairs organization is aware of the need to help bats and recently employees did their part.

Bats in part of the state are among those nationally facing white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungus that has killed millions of bats in the United States. Bat boxes can help raise awareness about bat habitats and help replace the loss of healthy habitats in the region.

“We try to take a holistic approach to protecting the environment, and bats are very much a part of that,” said Dylan Shaw, Environmental Affairs specialist with Alabama Power. “They’re kind of the invisible mammal that’s super important to our ecosystem, but we don’t see them a lot and we probably don’t think about them a lot. But they are critical for the health of our ecosystem.”

Bats save the agricultural industry millions of dollars by helping control pests.

Bat boxes may look small, but so are many of the bats that sleep in them. A single box can hold 100-200 bats. So, the 30 bat boxes produced recently by Alabama Power can have a significant impact.

After Alabama Power volunteers assembled the boxes, students at Oxmoor Valley Elementary School painted them as part of an art contest. The boxes are being installed at key places at the school campus and throughout Alabama.

Learn more about what Alabama Power is doing to protect bat populations in the video above and the links below.

‘Bat Blitz’ mission is to find, protect endangered bats in Alabama

Group devoted to protecting Alabama’s bats captures prestigious conservation award

Alabama experts conducting ‘culvert blitz’ in search for hibernating bats

Georgia-Alabama Land Trust and Alabama Power install bat houses at Weaver Cave Preserve