This post is about bat conservation: efforts in Temple Terrace to reconstruct an historic tower for bats, a large community bat roost I designed for the Florida Bat Conservancy, and how you can purchase (or build) your own bat roost.

Folks have long thought that installing birdhouses is beneficial, but the idea of placing roosts for bats is a recent one. Bats are not the feared, repulsive creatures of the night that folklore and superstition have made them out to be. Bats are not blind, they do not attack people, they do not get caught in people's hair, and they are not flying rodents. Not all bats are rabid, in fact, "studies have shown that less than one percent of bats contract rabies, and when they do, they usually die within three or four days". Bats are an important and beneficial part of the natural Florida environment, for instance, a single bat is capable of eating 500-1000 mosquitoes per hour!

Growing up in Temple Terrace I had many uniquely Florida experiences as I explored this eighty year old city with my brothers and sisters: the mysterious Hillsborough River; moss draped, crumbling 1920s Mediterranean Revival buildings; the ancient live oaks and longleaf pines; the Olmstedian 1920s golf course; and of course, the sublime and gothic bat tower. That's right, I said "bat tower"!

This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2009.