St. Marks NWR is home to 9 Facts About additional species of bats:

1. Southeastern Bat Brazilian 2. Seminole Bat 3. Eastern Pipistrelle 4. Hoary Bat Free-tailed 5. Big Brown Bat 6. Yellow Bat Bats 7. Red Bat 8. Evening Bat 9. Rafinesque’s Big-Eared Bat St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

Important things to remember Where Wildlife Comes First! when observing bats: A couple of years ago, we discovered that bats were trying to roost under the Visitors  Bats are designated by Florida Center's roof. So we built a bat condo on Statutes Chapter 372 as “Non- the side of the building. The bats moved in Game Wildlife” and their habitat Bats emerge at dusk —Scott Mitchell right away and were happy. We were must not be molested or happy. Unfortunately, bats produce guano disturbed by humans. which was adding to the nutrient load in St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge  do not throw any objects at bats Plum Orchard Pond. Recently refuge staff PO Box 68 or bat houses or bat barns moved the nest to across the street from St. Marks, FL 32355  Avoid making loud or high- the Visitor Brazilian Free-tailed pitched noises, as bats are easily 850-925-6121 bats are also called the Mexican disturbed www.fws.gov/saintmarks/ Free-tailed bat and the guano bat.  Maintain a safe distance Collecting or taking any plants, animals, or You might recognize this bat  Beware of falling urine and artifacts from federal lands is prohibited. from that is on a famous rum bottle. guano as bats fly overhead Their name comes from the mouse like  Never pick up a bat on the tail, which protrudes freely beyond the ground. flight membrane that stretches between its hind quarters. The tail makes up almost half their length. Brazilian Free-tailed bats occupy a Our new Bat Commune How you can help bats wide variety of habitats, such as limestone caves, abandoned mines, In October 2018, Hurricane Michael Plant a Bat Garden under bridges, and in buildings and removed one of the bat houses from the side Bats eat night flying insects. Bats eat smaller colonies have been found in of the Visitors Center and deposited it in many garden and agricultural pests, including cut worm moths, chafer beetles, hollow trees. A colony can have Plum Orchard Pond. It took us awhile, but we were finally able potato beetles and spotted cucumber numbers from 50 into the millions. beetles. to retrieve the house and clean it up. In The largest populations are found Almost a third of the world’s bats feed February 2019, a new bat housing area was on fruit or nectar of plants. In return for throughout Texas and Mexico created across the street from the Visitors forming colonies in the millions. their meals, these bats are vital Center. pollinators of countless plants (many of Because of their musty odor it is It meant that the one remaining house had great economic value) and essential seed sometimes possible to smell a colony to be removed from the building and quickly dispersers with a major role in downwind from a half a block away. put up on the new poles. This was a scary regenerating rainforests. The bats will forage as far as 25-30 moment, for we did not know what to If you would like to attract bats to your miles from their home at night and expect. Only two bats fell out during the garden, you will need to plant flowers that will attract night pollinators, like then return each morning before move and the others stayed put for the entire process. moths, which bats like to eat. Plant dawn. flowers that bloom late in the day or are Bats are the only mammal that night-scented. truly flies, rather than just glide like Native plant suggestions: a few other mammals (i.e. flying squirrel). They also navigate using Evening primrose echolocation, (the location of objects Phlox Night flowering Silene (catchfly) using reflected sound). Sounds are Fleabane sent out into the environment to Goldenrod bounce off of nearby objects and return information by measuring the For more information on Florida’s bats amount of time it takes for the sound go to: https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature wave to return. /brazilianfreetailedbat.htm Most small mammals have short life spans. But bats, for their size, have the longest life span of any mammal. The life span of a Brazilian Selena Kiser gently places the two bats that fell out of the large Free-tailed is 8 years. house into a smaller house.