{"id":14588,"date":"2025-09-10T09:19:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T09:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/?p=14588"},"modified":"2025-10-06T14:37:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T14:37:25","slug":"5-easy-way-to-make-your-backyard-bat-friendly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/5-easy-way-to-make-your-backyard-bat-friendly\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Easy Ways to Make Your Backyard Bat-friendly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that Canada has 19 different kinds of bats?<\/h2>\n

They\u2019re some of nature\u2019s best pest controllers, munching on insects like moths and mosquitoes. Sadly, they\u2019re facing serious challenges like habitat loss and disease. If you\u2019d like to help the bats that visit your backyard, we\u2019ve got five tips to attract them to your garden.<\/p>\n

Give Bats Something to Eat<\/h3>\n

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Bats are natural insect hunters, and you can attract their favourite snacks \u2013 like moths \u2013 by planting night-scented flowers like Evening Primrose, Wild Bergamot and native Phlox. You\u2019ll basically be creating an all you can eat buffet for our winged friends! And don\u2019t stop there! Bats eat all sorts of insects, so the more flowers you have, the better. Just make sure the plants are grown without neonics, a kind of pesticide that can harm the insects that bats eat.<\/p>\n

Give Bats a Safe Place to Roost<\/h3>\n

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Did you know that most bat species only have one pup a year? That makes finding a safe spot to raise their young extra important. They typically give birth in June and they might pick your backyard as the perfect place to raise their pups if you give them a bat house. You can buy a bat house, or if you\u2019re handy, you can make one!<\/p>\n

The Canadian Wildlife Federation worked in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society, Trent University and PhD candidate, Karen Vanderwolf on the Canadian Bat Box Project. We did a deep dive and examined which bat houses work best for Canadian bats and developed a new and bat house design, along with an addition you can download that features a pup catcher to protect baby bats from falls. You can begin by downloading these free DIY instructions.<\/a> Not so handy? No problem! We\u2019ve done the work for you and have a list of shops you can buy a bat box from \u2013 all the right size to keep our winged friends happy. Check the list out here<\/a>. Bonus points if you put up more than one house \u2013 bats love to have their options open!<\/p>\n

Position Your Bat Box Correctly<\/h3>\n

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Got your bat box ready but unsure where to hang it? Bats are picky about their home sweet homes! Try placing your bat box near water sources, like ponds or bird baths, as bats are naturally drawn to these areas. Partial sun is best (nobody likes roasting in the sun!) and aim to mount the box nine to 10 feet off the ground. And if you can, attach your box to the side of a building or on a pole. Oh, and keep outdoor lights off \u2014 Bats do their best hunting in the dark! Learn more here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Help Scientists by Watching Bats<\/h3>\n

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If you see bats in your yard, take some photos! You can help researchers by adding your bat sightings to the Canadian Wildlife Federation\u2019s Help the Bats project on iNaturalist Canada. This helps track where bats are and learn more about their favourite spots. Download the iNaturalist app or visit iNaturalist.ca to share your observations.<\/p>\n

If you put up a bat box but you\u2019re not sure if it\u2019s being used, look for clues like bat droppings or urine around the box. You can also camp out at dusk to watch them swoop out for their nightly insect hunt.<\/p>\n

Treat Bat Guests With Care<\/h3>\n

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Sometimes, bats may move into buildings and homes. While they\u2019re pretty harmless, you might prefer them out in the garden instead. If you need to evict bats, timing is critical. Some species, like the Big Brown Bat, can sometimes hibernate in buildings. For any hibernating bats, wait until spring to evict them, so you don\u2019t leave them out in the cold. For others, evicting between March and April, or September and November, ensures you don\u2019t trap flightless pups inside. Learn more about bat evictions here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you know that Canada has 19 different kinds of bats? They\u2019re some of nature\u2019s best pest controllers, munching on insects like moths and mosquitoes. Sadly, they\u2019re facing serious challenges…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":10360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[631,6],"tags":[654],"class_list":["post-14588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-connect-with-nature","category-endangered-species","tag-help-the-bats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14588"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16050,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14588\/revisions\/16050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}