Bob Wisecarver inspects on of the many bat houses he has installed in California. (Photo: ©Mark and Selena Kiser, BCI 9166218)

'Bat House Bob' Wisecarver Helps Misunderstood Mammals

Bob Wisecarver is no stranger to readers of BATS magazine or BCI's Bat House Researcher, both of which have been featuring his innovative work on bat houses and other artificial bat roosts for years. Now the 81-year-old resident of Walnut Creek, California, - along with the bats he champions - has been officially introduced to readers of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“The energetic and curious Wisecarver,” reports the Chronicle, is an expert on bat housing large and small and a leading activist in the conservation movement, which is still being batted around by stereotypes. Namely, that bats are dirty, rabid and may very well suck your blood.

“Bats, whose real gift to humankind is prolific bug-eating, [with] pollination and prized fertilizer as bonuses, are getting a boost in the Bay Area thanks to Wisecarver and others like him,” the newspaper continues.

Wisecarver, in fact, has built no less than 54 bat houses and lends his expertise, free, to just about anyone interested in building bat-friendly structures. Working often with BCI's North American Bat House Research Project, he constantly experiments with different styles, materials, colors, and temperatures to make his houses more attractive for bats.

Twenty years ago, when BCI began, bats were mostly ignored or persecuted. Now more than half of the 45 bat species in the United States are in trouble and six are considered endangered.

But, says the newspaper, the efforts of BCI and conservationists like Bob Wisecarver are making a real difference. Texas, Florida, and California, in particular, have embraced bat conservation.

Consider the Calero Reservoir County Park south of San Jose, California. Senior Park Ranger William Burr, who began work at the park in 1986, suspected that bats had been displaced when nearby century-old mines were closed up. He mobilized park staff, Boy Scouts, and students to put up 27 bat houses, all of which quickly filled with bats. The park recently completed a 512-cubic-foot bat house - the Calero Bat Inn - that is now home to 500 bats.

Also in Northern California, researcher Rachael Long has placed 150 bat houses on area farms. Farmers are delighted with the results, since the bats consume huge quantities of crop-destroying corn earworm moths. Meanwhile, 10 organic farms in California's Central Valley are experimenting with bat houses for pest control under a project by BCI, Long, and the Organic Farming Research Foundation.

And in Amador County, filling 16 spillway tunnels at a reservoir displaced thousands of bats. Asked to help seven years ago, Wisecarver created an artificial cave in one of the spillways. Some 5,000 Mexican free-tailed bats have since moved in.

Wisecarver retired in 1983 and notes, nearly 20 years later, “I've never seen a rocking chair in my retirement.”

For more information on bat houses, visit BCI's Catalog

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