Woodard Bay Pier

Woodard Bay Pier

Sunday, August 2, 2009

10 days ago, during the middle of the draining of Capitol Lake, the Woodard Bay bat count leaving the roost was 1,200, down from the prior week's 3,000 bats. Now, a week later it was back up to 2,000, about normal for this phase when the young are starting to fly, and moms and their pups leave for other locations around the region.

In the 7 years of counting at the Woodard Bay colony, there has never been a drop then a recovery in this phase of their maternity cycle. Yes, it could mean that some bats perished during the lake draining, and what we are seeing now are the young that make it through that period.