Monitor and protect bats and their habitat

Forillon National Park

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Often victims of misconceptions, bats play a key role in maintaining the balance of our ecosystems.

In addition to helping control biting insect populations, they help protect our forests and crops from harmful insects. They are highly effective natural insecticides!

At Forillon, seven species of bats have been identified. Of these, four are resident species, meaning they hibernate at our latitudes, and three are migratory, meaning they spend the winter further south.

Big brown bat in flight.

The big brown bat is a resident species. Photo: Sherri and Brock Fenton

Silver-haired bat flying.

The hoary bat is a migratory species. Photo: Sherri and Brock Fenton

Resident species

  • Little brown bat
  • Northern long-eared myotis
  • Tri-coloured bat
  • Big brown bat

Migratory species

  • Red bat
  • Hoary bat
  • Silver-haired bat

Species at risk

Unfortunately, all of these bat species, except for the big brown bat, are listed as species at risk by COSEWIC.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) is an independent advisory committee to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change that assesses the status of wildlife species at risk of extinction. Its members, experts in wildlife biology from various backgrounds, are responsible for identifying species at risk of disappearing from Canada.

Among the causes of bat population decline in North America are habitat loss and a decrease in insect populations, their main food source. Their low reproduction rate also affects their recovery, as they generally give birth to only one to three offspring per year. In addition, their social nature makes them vulnerable to certain diseases, as they tend to gather to hibernate or raise their young.

Little brown bat

Little brown bat

Northern long-eared myotis

Northern long-eared myotis

Tri-coloured bat

Tri-coloured bat

White-nose syndrome

Since 2010, bat populations have drastically declined due to a serious fungal infection: white-nose syndrome. In caves and caverns where this disease has been detected, mortality rates of 90 to 95% have been recorded in just a few years. This highly contagious disease develops on the skin of bats, causing severe skin irritation. In hibernating bats, it causes premature awakening, which can be fatal.

White spots on the skin of bats are symptomatic of white-nose syndrome.

Our conservation efforts

Our conservation efforts include protecting bat habitats, conducting annual field inventories, creating a joint conservation plan, and raising public awareness and education.

First, by protecting habitats used by bats, we contribute to population recovery. In addition, over the past five years, we conducted an annual field inventory to monitor their progress. Methods vary: fixed recording stations, mobile recordings, dusk observations, and building inspections.

Vieille maison à flanc de côteau au crépuscule

Our annual inventory leads us, among other places, to the heritage buildings in the Grande-Grave area.

In 2023, we developed a joint bat conservation plan with teams from other Parks Canada locations in Quebec, including La Mauricie National Park, the Quebec Field Unit, and the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve. This will allow us to have a better overview of population trends in the region.

We regularly conduct awareness and education activities to inform the public about the status of bat populations and the importance of collective action to protect and restore these animals.

What you can do

Would you also like to lend a hand to help bats? Here are a few tips:

  • In your yard, set aside a 'wild' space.
  • Reduce outdoor lighting.
  • Install a bat shelter.
  • Avoid visiting bat hibernation sites (caves, old buildings).
  • Report the presence of bats to park staff.
  • Take part in Bat Week activities.

Bats, an ally worth protecting

In this short video from Parks Canada's Field Notes series, see how annual bat inventories are conducted at Parks Canada sites in Quebec. Because collaboration is key to protecting our winged allies!

An ally worth protecting

Transcription

My name is Antoine Plouffe Leboeuf

I’m an ecosystem scientist at Forillon National Park

and I’m going to talk to you about

our bat conservation work. [Name Tag] Antoine Plouffe Leboeuf, Ecosystem Scientist, Forillon National Park

[Title] Field Notes: Bats, an Ally Worth Protecting

Today, we’re in the field to install

ultrasound recorders, in order to measure [Name Tag] Steve Pronovost, Resource Conservation Officer, Forillon National Park [Name Tag] Michael Ouellet, Resource Conservation Student, Forillon National Park

bat activity in Forillon National Park.

So, bats emit sounds that are inaudible to the human ear

but we can measure them with specialized devices.

To be able to measure the activity rate in our park,

we’ve placed our devices near feeding sites.

Bats feed mostly on insects

and so it's good to place the stations

near streams, marshes and ponds...

... places where there are a lot of insects.

[Text] In Canada, bats play an essential role in maintaining ecological balance by controlling insect populations.

[Text] Parks Canada is part of a dynamic community of bat researchers across Canada.

[Text] We work with private landowners, universities and other conservation organizations to better understand and protect bats.

To protect species like bats,

it takes a group effort. So, at Parks Canada

we started a great collaboration

with La Mauricie National Park, [Location Tag] La Mauricie National Park

Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve [Location Tag] Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve

and with us, Forillon National Park, [Location Tag] Forillon National Park

to work on bat conservation and more specifically

on three bats at risk:

the Little Brown Myotis, [Text] Little Brown Bat

the Northern Myotis and the Tri-colored Bat. [Text] Northern Bat [Text] Eastern Pipistrelle

[Text] In Canada, the main threats to bats are habitat loss and a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome. [Label] Fungus (Evidence of white-nose syndrome)

[Text] Our goal is to help restore bat populations by protecting hibernation sites, maternities and shelters. We are also tracking the progression of white-nose syndrome. [Label] Bat shelter

We’ve conducted

twilight inventories by observing our buildings [Location Tag] Forillon National Park

to check for the presence of bats.

We do this just before sunset

because now is the time that bats usually

choose to go out hunting at night.

So we have binoculars, then we observe the potential exits

to possibly find our famous bats. [Name Tag] Josée Blier, Resource Management Officer, La Mauricie National Park [Name Tag] Valérie Turcotte-Blais, Resource Management Technician, La Mauricie National Park [Location Tag] La Mauricie National Park

[Label] Heated nest box

[Text] Like in Forillon, other Parks Canada sites in Quebec regularly look for, listen to and monitor bats.

[Location Tag] Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve

This evening, we’re doing mobile inventories of bats. [Location Tag] La Mauricie National Park

To do this, we attach a microphone to a pole

that we will have outside the vehicle. Then we will drive on the road [Location Tag] Forillon National Park

across the park.

It will allow us to document all the bats

that are detected by our recorder.

This inventory gives us an idea of the relative

abundance of bats found in the park.

[Music]

So, today we

came to take down the station, the stationary recorder.

It's been ten nights that the

device has been taking recordings of bats and we think we’re

going to have lots of recordings because the temperature was good. [Name Tag] Marie-Soleil Pétrin, Resource Conservation Officer, Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve [Name Tag] Adam Desjardins, Resource Conservation Officer, Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve [Location Tag] Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve

It's been hot, there's been no rain

and the winds were still relatively weak.

So the conditions have been ideal for having

bats on our site.

And so today, we’ll take down the station and then we’ll go

look at our recording data which will be on an SD card.

We will be able to analyze it using

special software afterward.

[Label] A sound clip of a bat using echolocation to find food. The clip has been slowed down to be audible to the human ear.

So by working together

and also by working

with other conservation organizations in North America

we increase our chances of success to protect these species.

[Text] Learn more about bat conservation at Parks Canada: parkscanada.gc.ca/canada-bats

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