Bats emerge at dusk from underneath the Houghton Road bridge. Photo courtesy KVOA.
April 18, 2017
Did you know that southern Arizona bridges provide important roosting habitat for local bats? Many older bridges were built with long, thin expansion cracks underneath them. These cracks have turned out to be perfect roosting habitat for thousands and thousands of bats, and often pregnant females. Bats roost under the bridges during the day and then emerge at dusk in impressive swarms to forage, feed on mosquitoes and other insects, and pollinate local plants and crops.
Unfortunately, modern bridge designs have evolved and these long, thin expansion cracks are not used anymore. When old bridges are now replaced, we run the risk of also destroying this important bat habitat. Local biologists and conservationists are trying a new strategy of installing “bat boxes” under new bridges. These boxes are hung from underneath the new bridge and include a series of thin crevices where bats can roost. Each box can hold approximately 300-359 bats.
The new Ina Road bridge, currently under construction, is the first place where bat boxes are being deployed. First, bat boxes have been installed a mile to the south on the Cortaro Farms Road bridge. We hope that the bats currently roosting in the old Ina Road bridge will migrate down to these bat boxes when the Ina Road bridge is demolished. Then, when the new Ina Road bridge is finished, the bat boxes will be moved underneath this bridge. The Houghton Road bridge north of Interstate 10 is another project where bat boxes will be used to mitigate for the loss of existing bat habitat when this bridge is replaced in the near future.
Both of these bat box projects are funded by the “Wildlife Linkages” funding stream of the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). With your support, the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection has been a proud partner in all of the wildlife linkage projects funded by the RTA and we are very excited to see how these new “bat boxes” work!
Check out this Fox 11 News Story from April 14, 2017 to learn more about the new Ina Road Bridge bat boxes:
Check out this KVOA news story from September 29, 2015 about the Houghton Road bridge project:
http://www.kvoa.com/story/30147707/new-houghton-bridge-includes-plans-for-bats
Tags: bat boxes, bat habitat, bats, bridges, roosting bats, RTA, wildlife linkages