Calling all bat hosts: your observations are needed!

Do you have a bat-friendly house? In South Tyrol, window blinds on external façades provide a safe haven for Barbastelle bats (lat. Barbastella barbastellus) during the summer months. If they are not disturbed, the animals return there every summer, but can also change their roosts several times during the season.

If you also host these special fellow residents, we invite you to take part in our Citizen Science project. We are looking for information from Brixen and the surrounding region, as we are not yet aware of any roosts in this area. Together with the Office for Nature of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano-South Tyrol and the Museum of Nature South Tyrol, we would like to find out more about the distribution of this species.

Please report your observations of bats behind window blinds and help us to learn more about the bat population in our region. Your participation is a decisive step towards protecting and researching these nocturnal animals. All you need to do is call or email us, photos or further evidence are not necessary.

Contact: Hanna Steigleder, biologist at Eurac Research; phone: +39 0471 055 287; e-mail: hasteigleder@eurac.edu

Thank you for your help!

For those interested in our project, an evening talk on the bats of South Tyrol and the Barbastelle bat in particular will take place in the Forum Brixen (Saal Mantova) on 07.06.24 at 8 pm. Everyone is cordially invited!