Today is International Bat Appreciation Day. I’ll admit. I’m a bat fan. And not because of Batman. Or Dracula. I just like bats. I just happen top think they are interesting. And I am also in favour of anything that wants to eat all the bugs.

There are over fourteen hundred different bat species in the world. Nova Scotia, may have seven of them. The little brown bat, the northern long eared bat and the eastern pipistrelle, or tri-coloured bat are all residents on a regular basis. The big brown bat, hoary bat, red bat and silver haired bat are known to show up on occasion. But most of them have become a bit of a rare sight.

A few short years ago, bats were not so hard to find. It wasn’t unusual to spot them at dusk. I happened to live near a colony that was in an abandoned building, which has since been torn down. But it wasn’t unusual for me to be in the back yard at dusk, watching as hordes of bats left their roost for the night. I may even have been cheering them on a bit, as I sat watching and swatting mosquitoes. Even the local horde of bats was not enough to get them all.

Then came white-nose syndrome, a fungal infection that wiped out about ninety-five percent of the bats in the province. Suddenly, I wasn’t seeing as many bats. And for good reason.

Over the past couple years, they have been making a bit of a comeback, which is good to hear. Since bats, in general, don’t really bother us much and are rather helpful with the eating of the insects, it’s good to hear they are coming back. Although I still haven’t seen too many.

There are things you can do to help them, including building bat boxes and even reporting sightings. There is a site online to report bat sighting. And the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute has a bat hotline as well. That can help people track colonies and try to help them. So if you happen to see a bat, let someone know.

You might not be a huge bat fan yourself, but most of us are also not fans of too many bugs. The more things that eat those bugs, the better. So bring on the bats.