NEW BAT HOUSE IN TRAVIS COUNTRY WILDFLOWER PRESERVE

A new Bat House was installed last week in the Wild Flower Preserve near the entrance to Travis Country. It is located 20 feet high on an abandoned light pole and the installation was only possible with the kind assistance of Tom Baker of Driftwood Builders Restoration and his two long ladders.  Driftwood Builders Restoration has re-roofed many of the homes in Travis Country over the past few years.

Bats are mammalS, like humans, and play an essential role in the environment. The Mexican Free-Tailed Bat which is common in Austin can catch 600 mosquitos per hour each night, as well as other insects.  Other bat species pollinate flowers, fruits, and cacti. Most cacti and bananas cannot reproduce without the pollination of their flowers by bats.

This picture shows the bat house under construction. It has 5 separate living spaces which are only 3/4 inch in width.  The bats are happy with this narrow living space and the narrow access keeps out most predators.

With the Bat House installed, Glen Novinger and Tom Baker are seen here with Cynthia Wilcox, Secretary of the Travis Country Community Service Association.

We are happy to hear that our Austin bats began returning from Mexico to the Congress Avenue Bridge during the past few days. We only hope some of them will choose to spend the summer months in the new bat house in the Wildflower Preserve.

SPRING & SUMMER IS COMING & THE GREAT MOSQUITO CATCH IS ON

Bats are our Friends !

The Little Brown Bats can catch and eat 800 - 1000 mosquitos per hour for a total of 8,000 to 10,000 mosquitos in a night!

NEST BOX PROGRAM SUMMARY

TRAVIS COUNTRY & CARRINGTON PRAIRIE

  

On April 17, 2014, the Board of Directors of Travis Country Community Service Association approved the construction and installation by Glen Novinger of bird and owl nest boxes in the Travis Country common areas.

On May 2, 2014, Dr. Sherry Lepine, the Academy Director at Clint Small Middle School's Green Tech Academy approved the installation by Glen Novinger of bird and owl boxes in Carrington Prairie, a.k.a. the AISD property in the center of Travis Country.

Since the above dates ten nest boxes have been installed in Travis Country at the Community Garden and near the Community Association office in Blue Valley. Five nest boxes were also installed in the Carrington Prairie clearing on Trail West across from View West.

The plans for this Nest Box Program include the installation of additional nest boxes in appropriate habitat locations throughout the common areas of Travis Country and Carrington Prairie in consultation with Cynthia Wilcox of the Travis Country Board of Directors and with Dr. Sherry Lepine, the Academy Director at Clint Small Middle Sc hoo0l's Green Tech Academy. It is not expected that we will have many, if any, nesting birds in the boxes during 2014, because we are installing the boxes this year during the nesting season and most birds have already made their nests and are already laying eggs and fledging their broods. But we will have a full number of boxes installed by next spring and expect many broods of fledglings in the spring of 2015.

The Nest Box Program will initially include the installation of 5 different types of nest boxes which will accommodate birds ranging in size from small Bewick’s Wrens, Chickadees, and Warblers that use a 1 1/8 inch entry hole to our largest nest box with a 3 inch entry hole that will accommodate an Eastern Screech Owl. We will later consider adding boxes for Purple Martins. And, time permitting, we may add one or more Bat Houses for Mexican Free-tail Bats.

Please follow this blog for further updates and information on the Nest Box Program at Travis Country and Carrington Prairie.

Glen Novinger

Glen@Novinger.com
512-537-8772