🦇Happy Winter Solstice! The shortest day and the longest night of the year. Wishing everyone a peaceful holiday season.

🦇Interesting work that is trying to understand the effects of solar energy developments on bats! www.yahoo.com/news/article...

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

🦇Bat Acoustic Analysis Training Course, Kamloops, BC June 15-19, 2026 (see comment for links)

🦇#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?...

🦇🧪🌎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...

🦇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...

🦇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... )

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

🦇 in the news! #bats #lovebats #urbanwildlife Urban bats avoid street lights when commuting between their roosts and foraging grounds share.google/RNp1fTDImn78...

🦇#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.

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

🦇Fatal attraction: migratory bats are lured to wind turbine blades url: journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

🦇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.

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.

🦇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.

🦇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.

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...

🦇Male bats in Alberta aren’t belting out love songs - but some species do produce complex ultrasonic calls that might be part of their mating strategy. Bat dating is all about performance: up to 40 kHz of “check out my skills.” (see comments for audio!)

🦇Most bats only have one pup a year. One. That means every lost bat is a long-term hit to the population. Conservation isn’t “nice to have.” It’s necessary if we want bats to stick around.

🦇A great excerpt from "The Bats of Alberta" (a 20min documentary on our YT channel). Interestingly, this Little Brown would always show up in the same spot, same cave wall every year - so the bios would look for him. Great story of longevity in bats! #TheOldOne #subscribe youtu.be/ptcJfZyH6-U?...

🦇 ICYMI We’ve updated our Bat Ambassador Guide for teachers, interpreters, and anyone sharing bat knowledge. It’s free and packed with outreach tips and Alberta bat info. Link in comments!

🦇Bats should be in their hibernation sites now. In Alberta, we know of only a few hibernation sites - but hopefully that changes with our "Winter Bats" project! Using acoustic detectors we are monitoring potential "crevice" hibernation sites across the province. youtu.be/Qe1YvVYB4pc?...

🦇ICYMI: a great video on our work developing a "probiotic" to help bats survive white-nose syndrome infections. This beautifully shot video also gives a good primer on what the probiotic is all about. This was 2yrs ago -good news...our studies show the probiotic is working! youtu.be/VOtuiB6aiLE?...

🦇Our YouTube channel has lots of bat content! Check out this great short reel discussing the hazards bats face and how we can fix things to reduce harm. #BatsNeedFriends #Subscribe! youtu.be/m5mA3lyTl8I?...

🦇News of the "probiotic" we are using to treat bats against white-nose syndrome makes the National News this week - on CBC's "Your World Tonight" - the story is introduced in the first minute and then highlighted between 22:25-25:43 www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Quirks and Quarks takes on the curious story of the European Serotine bat and its mating behaviour. Proof, once again, that bats are often "extraordinary"! www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks...

Let’s finish #BatWeek2025 strong! 🦇 Grade 1 kids in NW Calgary are fundraising for bats thru “chores for conservation” — and they’re SO close to their $500 goal! 💪 Such curious future bat biologists! ❤️ Help them reach it: www.justgiving.com/page/ffcagra...

🦇A text version of Dr. Cori Lausen's "What on Earth?" interview last week is now up on CBC! ICYMI! #HappyBatWeek! www.cbc.ca/radio/whaton...

🦇 HAPPY BIRTHDAY @albertabats.bsky.social ! #BeatrixPotter (1866 - 1943) STUDY OF THE HEAD OF A BAT, 1888 Watercolour with traces of charcoal underdrawing on paper

Our AGM is taking place Monday November 17 both in person and online via Zoom In addition to our formal agenda we will also have special guest Susan Holroyd from @albertabats.bsky.social speaking on #bats in #yyc Please register if you plan on attending: www.eventbrite.com/e/1892726940...

🦇Scrub-a-dub! Bats are very fastidious when it comes to hygiene. #BatBaths #HappyBatWeek The cute you didn't know you needed today! #BigBrownBat youtu.be/DNMxbFhM7v4?...

#HappyBatWeek! 🦇Fun bat fact: bat echolocation calls are high frequency - so we can't hear them but they are LOUD! 120 decibels loud! Check out this short video from our channel - "How loud are they?" youtu.be/nksKxitKiqk?...

We talked to over 1,000 people this past Sat/Sun at @telus-spark.bsky.social !! Lots of good conversations about bats & lots of fun crafting! We had questions from bat boxes to white-nose syndrome to how bats avoid cancer! Photos by star volunteer Natasha Gidluck. #BatWeek #YYC

The threats facing bats are evolving faster than bats can keep up 🦇 (1/4) #BatMonth #BatConservation @albertabats.bsky.social

Our #BatTeam is spread over two provinces - but we work together to help protect, conserve and better understand bats. #HappyBatWeek from the @wcscanada.org Western Bat Program!

🦇This has GOT TO BE the cutest, sweetest post for #BatWeek2025! Way to go kids! 😍Bat Club!

🦇And so it begins! #BatWeek2025! Celebrate bat week by sharing bat facts, donating to bat research & outreach, learn something new about bats - or go to batweek.org to get some new ideas! Happy Bat Week everybody!

Help us, help bats. #Donate #OctoberForBats www.justgiving.com/campaign/oct...

Ooooh! Are we really taking over? That really would be scary! LOL! But seriously - we are very excited about visiting Telus Spark this weekend! Come on out and learn about bats for #BatWeek! #BatsNeedFriends

🦇#NewsFlash! Work by our Western Bat Program Team makes the news! Just in time for #BatWeek! The probiotic appears to be helping bats - any increase in survivorship is going to be a bonus. Check out the story here: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Do bats hold the keys to long life? And maximizing "health spans"? An interesting dive into bat physiological studies and a discussion of what we might learn from long-lived animals like bats.🦇 youtu.be/8HSpJbWqfBs?...

#OctoberForBats #BatWeek2025 Help support the bats this month! And gear up to celebrate them the last week of October - it's BAT WEEK! See www.albertabats.ca for details on how to participate in "October For Bats"! 🦇

We are WCS Canada! Help us this month raise funds to continue our work to protect bats & their habitats through research, education and monitoring. 🦇

Community science and outreach are vital aspects of our work to help bats. Through events, discussions with landowners, guidebooks, and local monitoring, we’re empowering Albertans to support bat-friendly practices and take part in protecting western bats 🦇🧵 @albertabats.bsky.social

Our Winter Bats project is underway! Detectors across Alberta are listening for winter bat activity - evidence of nearby hibernacula. Using a predictive map (created by our summer intern with our input), we’re narrowing down the search for wintering sites. Stay tuned for updates! 🦇❄️ #BatResearch

17 yo daughter made this on our walk:

🦇Are you interested in bat houses? Are you thinking of building or installing one...or a few? Check out our latest video on bat boxes - all the things to consider before you start your project. (Feel free to subscribe to our channel too)! youtu.be/BhJZjQBonkE?...

🦇Artificial bat roosts can overheat during heatwaves, forcing bats to lose dangerous amounts of water to stay cool. Some bat box designs could cause lethal dehydration - even in northern regions. Roost design must consider both bat physiology & microclimate. journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-...

Still can't get over the story about this noctule bat catching & eating a European robin WHILE IN FLIGHT at high elevation during the bird migration period. Just wow! www.theguardian.com/science/2025...