Got bats? Help us count them! Attics, barns, and church steeples often serve as summer homes for female bats and their young. In the face of white-nose syndrome, which is causing significant declines in bat populations throughout the Northeast, monitoring these “maternity colonies” is more important than ever. Landowners, homeowners, and other volunteers can help keep track of New Hampshire’s bats by conducting “emergence counts” at bat roosts throughout the state.

Join wildlife biologists Sandi Houghton of NH Fish & Game and Haley Andreozzi of UNH Cooperative Extension for a presentation and demonstration at the Harris Center for Conservation Education to learn more about the bat species found in New Hampshire, the threats leading to population declines, and how you can help. The training will start with an indoor presentation on bats in New Hampshire. Then, we’ll caravan to a nearby barn for an outdoor bat counting demonstration at dusk.

Attendees will be trained to participate in the NH Bat Counts project, in which volunteers help to monitor summer bat colonies in New Hampshire. All are welcome, but landowners and homeowners with bats on their property are especially encouraged to attend. For those interested in participating in NH Bat Counts but without bats on their own property, we will have a list of sites in need of committed volunteers. This training is free, but space is limited and registration is required.

Due to space limitations at the counting site, only the first 25 individuals that register will be able to participate in the demonstration count following the presentation. The registration form will indicated when those who are registering are doing so for only the indoor presentation.