Urban Bat Project Survey Finds Huge Number Of Roosevelt Island Bats At Southpoint Park Manhattan Healing Forest During iDig2Learn Evening Tour With Over 50 Residents

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A year ago at dusk returning from Southpoint Park, I saw a flutter of activity above my head and knew right away they were bats. Excited for the dent in the mosquito population I wanted to know more about which species and how many called Roosevelt Island home. Fast forward to last week, on a beautiful Monday evening, over fifty neighbors and friends joined iDig2Learn and Urban Bat Project NYC founder, Nic Comparato, on a bat tour to learn more. A PhD student at Rutgers and bat ecologist fascinated by bats, Nic has set up bat surveys throughout NYC at locations including Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the High Line. According to the Urban Bat Project NYC website: Bat surveys are conducted using acoustic bat detectors. These devices remain in the field throughout the summer and record bats’ sonar as they fly by. We can then use these recordings to roughly assess what bat activity and biodiversity are like for a specific location. On June 23rd, Nic’s seventh NYC survey station was set up on Roosevelt Island. iDig2Learn was thrilled when Nic reached out to us to set up the site in the Manhattan Healing Forest. We knew from caring for the SUGi-funded baby pocket forest, planted in the Miyawaki Method in 2024, that there was plenty of biodiversity. What we didn’t know was if there were bats, what species and how many. The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) grounds supervisor has had great experience with bats as a natural strategy to diminish the mosquito population especially from past work on golf courses, and the FDR Four Freedoms State Park team had seen bats in the area and was interested too. Friends from the Roosevelt Island Garden Club have also seen bat activity. Meeting in the pocket forest, the setup took minutes, and with a clap of our hands to ensure it could hear from dusk to dawn, we only had to wait for nightfall for data to start being collected. Two weeks later an excited text from Nic revealed: I just ran the data for the SUGi pocket forest and you got lots of bats there – huge numbers. Incredibly one night in July Nic tabulated over 180 Eastern Red Bats (Lasiurus borealis) a common species and throughout the summer a small number of Hoary Bats (Lasiurus concerts), an uncommon species, on Roosevelt Island showed up too. • Eastern Red Bat Credit: Urban Bat Project NYC • Hoary Bat Credit: Urban Bat Project NYC iDig2Learn incorporated bat activities in the many summer camp programs we host sharing fun facts like that the Eastern Red Bat hangs upside down by one leg to more convincingly mimic a dead leaf which helps avoid predation. Summer is a great time to see bats before they migrate but Nic mentioned to be on the look out in the next two months for incoming silver-haired bats and occasional big brown bats. As folks gathered Monday night to learn from Nic about our fluttering mosquito-eating neighbors we stared at the dusky sky in anticipation. One resident asked: What exactly am I looking for? As another shouted: Bat! and we all ran thirty feet following his sighting just missing it but excited nonetheless. As the group started to disperse and Nic’s tablet detected some far away bats one person squealed: It just flew over our heads but I was so excited I forgot to call out BAT. Though the bats were elusive that evening it was fun to gather and meet each other and learn more. All ages went home with a Bats of Eastern North America field guide by Earth, Sky + Water courtesy of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation’s Public Purpose Fund grant to iDig2Learn administered by NYCT. These nature experiences are all part of iDig2Learn’s latest initiative, Nature RX for Roosevelt Island, which aims to boost our health by getting us outdoors to experience the healing benefits of time spent outdoors in nature. Learn more about bat activity at the Urban Bat Project NYC’s website, View this post on Instagram and follow iDig2Learn on Instagram:@idig2learn View this post on Instagram for more outdoor experiences like the upcoming free October 3rd City of Forest Day event at Lighthouse Park from 11 am to 3 pm. We hope to see you at City of Forest Day.