Thank you to all our partners and volunteers who participated in the BC Annual Bat Count in the summer of 2025. The counts so far indicate healthy bat populations as there were no consistent declines detected in any of the bat count sites. This is worth celebrating!
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). Participants sit outside a roost site and count the number of bats that come out of a day roost starting at sunset and counting for an hour. These day roosts are usually maternity colonies.
Last summer (2025), there were 1,089 bat counts completed at 339 roost sites throughout BC. Eighty two percent of these bat counts were done with or by volunteers. Thank you volunteers for your enthusiasm and for staying up late with us, enjoying the summer night skies, and participating in bat population monitoring.
Out of the 339 roost sites counted, 45% of these were located in occupied buildings and 39% were located in bat boxes or condos. The rest were in bridges, unoccupied buildings or out buildings.
There were seven locations that counted over 2,000 bats! These were:
- 6,151 bats at a Creston bat condo
- 3,294 bats at an Agassiz building
- 3,294 bats at a Delta Deas Island building
- 2,973 bats at a MetroVancouver Widgeon Marsh bat condo
- 2,667 bats at a Vernon Fintry Provincial Park building
- 2,468 bats at a Ruskin farm building
- 2,447 bats at a Peachland building
The 7 bat species that have been identified at bat count sites are:
- Little Brown Myotis
- Yuma Myotis
- Big Brown Bats
- California Myotis
- Townsend’s Big-eared Bats
- Long-legged Myotis
- Long-eared Myotis.
Begun in 2012, we now have data on seven bat species from 9,050 counts at 1,079 sites around the province. This summer of 2026, we will be celebrating our 15th year of the BC Annual Bat Count. Our goal will be to do at least 950 bat counts, so we can reach 10,000 bat counts in 15 years!
To read the BC Annual Bat Count 2025 report, click here.
For the summary bat count report, click here.
We’d like to thank our funders and partners for all their support; Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, Environment and Climate Change Canada, BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, BC Conservation Foundation, and regionally with the support of many businesses, organizations, and volunteers.