Voles are small, mouselike rodents that can be pests in gardens and landscapes. They damage many types of plants with their gnawing, from vegetables to turf to trees. Voles can gnaw completely around the trunk or roots of trees, causing girdling, which can kill trees.

Voles spend most of their time below ground in their burrows, but you can spot their presence by the well-traveled runways connecting the burrow openings. They prefer not to feed in the open to keep away from predators.

Voles are normally found in areas with dense vegetation, so clearing brush is one way to discourage them. Find out more about managing these rodents in the newly updated Pest Notes: Voles. UC Davis Wildlife Specialist Roger Baldwin has added information such as range maps, distinguishing vole damage from gopher damage, and improving trapping success.

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Many people think wild rabbits hopping around are adorable—there's even an international rabbit day celebrating wild and domestic rabbits—but they're less welcome when they're eating your carefully tended garden. Wild rabbits in California can devour your garden vegetables, just like Peter Cottontail. And they don't stop at lettuce and beans. Rabbits and hares will gnaw tree bark, flowers, most green vegetation, and even drip irrigation tubing.

UC Davis Wildlife Specialist Roger Baldwin has revised the Pest Notes: Rabbits and included more detailed management methods for jackrabbits, cottontails, and other wild rabbits. Managing vertebrate pests is often regulated but you don't need a license to take rabbits causing damage on your property. Several methods from excluding to trapping can be effective. Directions for building a rabbit fence, the most effective, long-term management choice, is included in this publication. But as Mr. McGregor found out, you must maintain your fences or rabbits will sneak in!

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Throughout history bats have been objects of fear, hostility, and myths, largely due to their nocturnal, mysterious behavior. Horror movies and media exaggerations has led people to believe they are dangerous disease-ridden blood suckers. The truth is very different.

Fascinating Bat Bits

Bats are the only true flying mammal, making up a quarter of the world's mammals. There are 1,100 species of bats, with forty species in the USA.  California has twenty-five species, most of which are insectivores.

Bats are one of only three mammals that generally sleep upside down, with sloths and manatees being the other two.

Bats can live between five and thirty years, depending on the species. Most female bats have only one pup per year, making them vulnerable to extinction.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, fruit-eating bats are responsible for dispersing seeds that grow into bananas, avocados and 300 other plant species around the world. Agave plants (which are the source of tequila and mezcal) evolved to supply most of their nectar after dark to attract the nocturnal bats to cross-pollinate their flowers.

Insect eating bats often consume their own weight in insects each night, eating up to a thousand mosquito-size insects in an hour! It is estimated that bats' value to agriculture could exceed $23 million per year.

Bats are excellent fliers with some species flying up to 60-100 mph.  They can locate and catch insects in midflight in total darkness, using echolocation, which is the ability to locate objects by reflected sound waves.

Where Do Bats Live?

Bat roosting sites include caves, tree cavities, buildings, bridges, attics, barns, bat boxes or other structures.

Usually, males and females with young will roost separately, but in late summer or early autumn, males may join the colony. In the winter when insects become scarce, some bats hibernate, while others may migrate to warmer areas, returning in the spring months.

Bat Myths and Facts

Because of their nocturnal habits, bats are rarely seen, so seem mysterious and are often misunderstood.

Myth - Bats suck people's blood.

Fact - There are three species of “vampire bats” whose food source is blood. None are found in the USA.

Myth - Bats are blind.

Fact - Bats do have small eyes, but they are functional. Megabats, which are larger bats such as fruit bats (found in forests of Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe), search for their food using both sight and smell.

Myth - Bats fly towards and get tangled in people's hair.

Fact - Bats hang upside down from their roosts and tend to drop down and flap their wings before they start to lift off in flight. So, though it may appear the animals are swooping down on you and want to nest in your hair, they're not. In fact, bats don't make nests.

Bats as Pests

Like many mammals, bats can contract rabies. It is rare for a rabid bat to bite a human. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 59,000 humans die from rabies each year, with 99% of these deaths being due to contact with rabid, unvaccinated dogs.

Most bat parasites such as fleas and mites are host specific and cannot survive on other animals. No evidence exists of disease transmission to humans or domestic pets from bat parasites.

Bat droppings, known as guano, can harbor a widespread fungus found in soil, Histoplasma capsulatum, which causes Histoplasmosis in humans. However, most human infections come from birds.

If You Find a Bat. . .

A bat that flies into your living space is usually lost, perhaps young, and its only goal is to find an exit outside. While keeping it in sight, close all the interior doors to the room, opening exterior doors and windows to provide means for the bat to escape.

If you find a bat laying on the ground, please leave it alone, especially in the spring or fall, when they may be migrating and are just resting during their long journey. If after an hour or two, the bat has not moved, it is likely sick and should be avoided. If it is in an area where children or pets can access it, you may want to trap it. While wearing leather gloves, carefully put a box over it and slide a piece of cardboard underneath it to trap it. Then contact your local wildlife rescue organization (in Stanislaus County that is the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center at 1220 Geer Rd., Hughson, 209-883-9414).

Bats in Trouble

More than half of the bat species in the United States are in severe decline or listed as endangered. In addition to loss of habitat, tree-roosting and migratory bats face significant threats from wind turbines.

One of their most dire threats comes from white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease that has decimated bats in the USA and Canada.  Bats that hibernate during the winter do so to ration their energy and survive during a time of year when insects are scarce. The WNS fungus grows on bats' skin which disturbs their hibernation, thus increasing the amount of energy they are using, resulting in dehydration, starvation and often, death. However, a 2015 breakthrough appears promising. A team of researchers treated infected bats infected with a common bacterium on bananas which seems to stop the growth of the fungus. The treated bats were successfully released back to the wild.

How Can You Help Bats

Bats are a part of healthy and diverse ecosystems. Some ways you can help:

• Learn more about bats, educating friends and family.
• With an iNaturalist app on your smartphone, you can take part in citizen science by observing bats in a park or your own backyard.
• Build a bat house. Bats need places to roost, rest, raise young. UC IPM gives information how to build a backyard bat house: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74150.html.  Other bat house links are provided in Resources. Choose a pesticide-free open location with five to seven hours of sunlight. Bats prefer interior temperatures of 80-100ºF during the summer.
• Stay out of caves when directed. Bats need to be undisturbed in caves, particularly in the winter months. If you do visit caves where bats live, clean your shoes before and after to avoid tracking white nose syndrome to another cave.  

Where to Go See Bats

There are a couple locations near Stanislaus County where you can go see bats at dusk during the warmer months:

• Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area: Not far from Sacramento, this colony resides under the Yolo Causeways, a 3-mile-viaduct on Interstate 80. These are Mexican Free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) who take up residence in the crevices in the concrete bridge. The colony numbers up to a quarter-million bats in size. If you want to see the bats yourself, you can find a place with a good view, but you can also book tours that are specifically designed to get you close enough to see the colony. https://www.yolobasin.org/bats2022/ 
• Consumnes River Preserve: Near Lodi, several species of bats are found in both the riparian forest and in a bat-friendly bridge built over the Cosumnes River. https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/cosumnes-river/

 

All About Bats Webinar

If you wish to learn more about these vital, fascinating creatures, join Rachael Long, UC ANR Integrated Pest Management Advisor for Yolo, Solano, and Sacramento Counties for her webinar “All About Bats.” Rachael will discuss the natural history of bats, including common types found in California, bats and pest control, bat boxes to attract bats, excluding unwanted bats, bats and rabies prevention, as well as fielding questions from participants about bats. Listed below is registration information:

Webinar: “All About Bats”
Where: On Zoom
When: Wednesday, October 12, 2022, from 1:00-2:30 p.m
Instructor: Rachael Long, UC ANR Integrated Pest Management for Yolo, Solano and Sacramento Counties
Cost: Free
Register: https://ucanr.edu/all/about/bats 

 

Resources

What Insects Do Bats Eat?  https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/index.cfm?tagname=bats

Bats, Allies to Farmers: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=23708&postnum=23708

Bats in the Belfry:  https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=17395

Fear of Bats and Its Consequences by Merlin Tuttle:  https://secemu.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Tuttle_et_al_2017.pdf

Bat Myths: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/nature/article/bat-myths-busted

Myth Busters: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bats/myth-busters.htm

Nature Conservancy – Bats: https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/animals-we-protect/bats/

Bat Conservation and Management – Bats in Buildings:https://batmanagement.com/blogs/bat-exclusion-control/bats-in-buildings

White nose syndrome: https://blog.nature.org/science/2015/05/27/bananas-to-bats-the-science-behind-the-first-bats-successfully-treated-for-white-nose-syndrome/

All About Bat Houses: https://batmanagement.com/pages/lc-bh-overview

Selecting a Quality Bat House: https://www.merlintuttle.org/selecting-a-quality-bat-house/

 

 

 

 

The month of May is Garden for Wildlife month. Due to factors such as loss of habitat, pesticides exposure, and climate change, much of wildlife is being challenged today. There are many ways home gardeners can directly help birds, bees, butterflies, and other local wildlife. The saying “If you build it, they will come” applies not only to the classic baseball movie “Field of Dreams,” but also to attracting wildlife to your garden.

Plants

If you have the space, plant an oak tree! While it will take several years for the tree to mature, few plants provide more benefits to nature than an oak tree. One Valley oak tree can provide food, water, and shelter to approximately 350 vertebrate species and over 250 species of insects and arachnids.

Plant a variety of native plants which are the foundation of local food webs. Wildlife and plants evolved together in ways that were beneficial to both, plus they are adapted to local soils and weather. Native plants provide food, shelter, and places to care for their young. Native plants also tend to be water-wise, needing little watering once established.

Choose plants that bloom at different times of the year, to ensure something is always blooming during the different seasons thus providing nectar sources year-round.  Include some plants which produce berries to provide food sources attractive to birds and insects.

Create multi-layered planting. Have some canopy trees of different heights, weave in some tall, medium, and small plants, along with some groundcovers. Even a small garden can have plants of different heights to attract and shelter different types of wildlife. Arbors and trellises are also ways to grow vines, providing more variety in your garden.

Lawns lack variety, thus reducing your lawn space and replacing it with native plants will increase the diversity in your garden. Decreasing the frequency of mowing permits grasses to grow taller, allowing flowers to grow and bloom which would attract bees and butterflies. You can also sprinkle some daisy and clover seeds into your lawn to provide forage plants and flowers for many beneficial insects.

Water

Wildlife needs water. The water source(s) can be a small dish, a bird bath, a rain garden, or pond. Water in bird baths needs to be shallow since birds will not use a bath where the water is deeper than their legs. Be sure to clean and change the water frequently to prevent mosquitoes.

Ponds with aquatic-loving plants can encourage amphibians such as salamanders or toads, or wetland insects such as dragonflies, to visit and set up their homes.

Butterflies engage in behavior called “puddling,” where they stop in muddy puddles for water and nutrients. You can recreate this by filling a terra cotta saucer with soil and pebbles, sink it into the ground and keep it moist. Again, change the water regularly.

Plants and rocks around the water source(s) provide shelter, camouflage, and spots for creatures like butterflies, lizards, or turtles who like to sun themselves near water.

Housing for Bees

Most bees are solitary in nature with 70% being ground nesters like mining bees. Cavity-nesters such as mason bees comprise 30% of bees. These live in twigs, abandoned beetle holes, and other tree cavities. The social honeybees and bumble bees who live in hives or colonies make up less than 1% of all bees. Native bees are up to 200 times more efficient pollinators than honeybees. You can attract native bees to your garden by providing bare patches of dirt in out-of-the way sections and/or supply bee housing with hollow reeds or cardboard tubes in a sheltered spot that receives morning sun.

Leave the Leaves

Leaving leaves as they drop from your trees and bushes provides food and shelter for a variety of living creatures including worms, beetles, millipedes, larvae of some butterflies and moths, toads, frogs and more. These in turn attract birds, mammals, and amphibians that rely on the smaller organisms as a food source.

Chemicals

Reduce or eliminate use of pesticides and fertilizers which can be harmful to wildlife (including beneficial insects) and contaminate water resources. Instead use earth-friendly solutions such as garden mulch to discourage weeds and adding nutrients to the soil. UC Integrated Pest Management provides a source of research-based less-toxic solutions for garden pest management.

One Step at a Time

Changing your garden into a wildlife haven will likely be a step-by-step process over a period of time. Building a garden attractive to wildlife will bring you the enjoyment of watching them and the knowledge you are helping wildlife thrive.

Resources listed provide information for ways to you to build a garden attractive to wildlife.

• Butterflies in Your Garden: https://ucanr.edu/sites/CEStanislausCo/files/345791.pdf
• Sustainable Landscaping: https://ucanr.edu/sites/stancountymg/Sustainable_Landscaping/
• Trees in Your Garden:  https://ucanr.edu/sites/CEStanislausCo/files/341553.pdf
• Pollinator-Friendly Native Plants Lists: https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/pollinator-friendly-plant-lists
• UC IPM Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/
• The Bee Gardener: The Cavities You Want to Have: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=12785
• How to Make and Use Bee Houses for Cavity Nesting Bees: https://beegarden.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/How-to-build-and-use-bee-blocks.pdf

 

Denise Godbout-Avant has been a Stanislaus County Master Gardener since 2020.