Halloween Habitat! Bat Care for Ballona Restoration Project!

Expert biologists have been hard at work planning protections for our native bats during construction of California's proposed Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project. We like these people!

Native bats roost and forage in spooky places around the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve. One favorite roosting place is the frondy crowns of palms trees scattered around the Reserve lands.

Bats at Ballona like to roost in the fronds of spooky palm trees, like those shown above.

We share Ballona with the silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), Yuma myotis(Myotis yumanensis) and Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis). The majority of bat observations in Ballona took place at the Freshwater Marsh near the southwest corner of Jefferson and Lincoln Boulevards, and the most commonly detected species were Mexican free-tailed bats (pictured below).

A Mexican Free-Tailed Bat ready to go trick-or-treating :)

When restoration construction of Ballona Wetlands proceeds, roosting bats could be bothered by vehicle noise and activity, and also their favorite roosting places in spooky old palm trees might be removed altogether. No worries! Here is just a simple listing of the rules our Department of Fish and Wildlife has placed on Ballona construction to protect one of our favorite Halloween mascots:

• A qualified bat biologist must survey areas slated for construction to identify any roosting mommy bats
• Construction must avoid roosting areas during the bat roosting season (March 1-July 31)
• Palm trees can only be removed outside of the mommy bat roosting season
• Palm fronds must be carefully removed during the days before a tree is to be removed, so mommy bats won't begin roosting right before the tree gets removed
• In areas under bridges, etc., where bats may roost and construction noise could bother them, Bat Biologists will survey carefully for any evidence of past mommy bat roosting
• Humane exclusion devices, such as non-harmful barriers over crevices and cracks, will be installed outside of the mommy bat roosting season, and removed after construction is complete

When the Ballona "Great Park" is completed, you'll be able to walk certain trails on specially designated nights around sunset, guided by rangers, to watch the local bats feed on flying insects. Bats will roost under two new trail bridges to be built over Lincoln Blvd. and Ballona Creek. Your dedicated Fish and Wildlife bat biologists are deputized and ready to protect our favorite squeaky little Halloween critters! I have heard they drive a special squad car, too:

Happy Halloween!