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Background information
Australian animals, tree hollows and nestboxes

Australian topics
Nankeen kestrel
Eastern pygmy possum
Green tree frog

Microbats general
Batboxes in
Organ Pipes National Park

Gould's wattled bat
Chocolate wattled bat
Large-footed myotis
Bats, Mosquitoes and Dollars

Can rosellas smell?

research item.jpg (6723 bytes) Batbox? -
Chocolate wattled bat

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Every year, chocolate wattled bats return to the roof of this bird feeder to form a maternity colony.  Over 40 bats have been observed leaving the roost at dusk.

The roost compartment is the cavity right at the very top of the roof.  The space is triangular in cross-section with a flat floor.  It is 1200 long and about 75 high in the middle.

 

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The bats enter where there is a small gap under the weatherboards and the end-piece at one end.  This space tapers from nothing to 15mm over a distance of 75mm.

The entrance is 2m above ground, although there is another 1m drop a little way in front of the feeder.

The bats arrive in early September and leave in March. 

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The landlords of this lovely home are Gail & Bruce Corstorphan and the site is high in the hills behind the Gold Coast in south east Queensland.  It is a rural area, largely cleared below this property but with natural bush above (dry scherophyll), as can be seen in the top photo.  There is a small farm dam about 50m below the roost, but no other free water for quite some distance.

Notable is the way the bats appear to sit in the roost rather than hang from the side walls.  This behaviour has been observed with other small bats and may provide a clue to their requirements as regards artificial roost sites.

 

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