A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to go wildlife viewing with a group of biologist from Environment Yukon to go see the Little Brown Bat in its natural environment. It was an awesome experience! So when I learned that I had the opportunity to build a bat house for these little guys, how could I resist? This workshop was family friendly, with some of the participants bringing their children along.
Carrie McClelland a Wildlife Viewing Biologist with Environment Yukon provided participants with some education on the Little Brown Bat, which was very informative and provided an opportunity to appreciate the work we were about to do in the construction of our bat houses. Our bat houses will provide the females with a safe, warm place to raise their pups. Bats typically only have one pup each year, making population growth slow. Because of habitat loss, bats are finding it harder to find places to roost during the day and to raise their young.
To learn more about bats in Yukon please visit this online brochure.
Let the construction begin… We started off with several pieces of pre-cut wood, burlap, some screws and a couple hand tools (scissors, staple gun and a drill). Amy our instructor (and Simon) were awesome in helping us with the assembly of the bat houses.
The Yukon now has several more – beautifully constructed houses that will provide a warm safe place for the Little Brown Bat to raise their pups. Thank you to the Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Trust, Environment Yukon and YuKonstruct for hosting this workshop. I’m already looking forward to the next workshop!
For more events from the Make It Wild! series, please keep checking out the YuKonstruct event page!