The BC Annual Bat Count is a summer emergence count of bats at day roosts in human-made structures (e.g. houses, barns, bat boxes). Begun in 2012, we now have data on seven bat species from 7967 counts at 1008 sites around the province.
The BC Annual Bat Count report and a summary from the 2024 summer season are now available.
Bats are an essential part of our BC ecology and are of huge economic importance, consuming large quantities of insects each night. Bats face a wide variety of threats, including habitat loss, increasing severity of fires, and wide-scale mortality from White-nose Syndrome (WNS).
The Annual Bat Count dataset is a key part of our provincial bat monitoring program, helping to
monitor trends in bat populations and detect declines from WNS. Monitoring will also inform our
policies and management actions to protect and conserve our bats. No private landowner information is passed along when the count results are shared.
We would like to extend our gratitude to all Bat Ambassadors and partners who volunteered their time. The BC Annual Bat Count depends on participation of our volunteer Citizen Scientists. In 2024, volunteers donated 2323 volunteer-evenings, participating in 998 bat counts.
In 2024, there were a total of 1089 counts done at 268 roost sites. The largest colony counted in one night in 2024 had 3,947 bats This was at a large bat condo at the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area. The smallest count was 0 bats. A ‘zero’ count is also important data, particularly for bat boxes. The Annual Bat Count data set can illustrate trends in populations. Count data from key sites are graphed by region and species to screen for sites with large declines, identify areas to focus on to improve sample sizes, and to provide feedback to coordinators and local volunteers. As of 2024, the majority of sites did not show declining trends. At this time, there are three sites flagged for attention next summer, as they had low numbers. However, there were no consistent declines detected at any other site in BC.
We look forward to everyone’s participation again starting June 1st of 2025. For more information, visit Counting bats | BC BATS.