Programs on 'Bats of Pennsylvania' on November 14

Howard 'Sandy' Whidden

Dr. Howard "Sandy" Whidden, professor of biology at East Stroudsburg University, will discuss the natural history of the bats of Pennsylvania and the current threats to their survival. The program is scheduled for Friday, November 14, at 7 p.m. at the Wildlands Conservancy Education Center Building in Emmaus.


Bats in Pennsylvania face two challenges: the emergence of White-nose Syndrome, a disease of hibernating bats, and bat mortality from the whirling blades of wind turbines used for electric generation.

Since 2007, millions of insect-eating bats in 25 states and five Canadian provinces have died of White-nose Syndrome, which is caused by a cold-loving fungus. The fungus infects the skin of the muzzle, ears and wings of hibernating bats. Bats infected with the disease deplete their fat reserves during winter and starve to death during hibernation.

The National Wildlife Health Center estimates that about 80 percent of the bat population in the northeastern United States has declined since the emergence of the disease. Farmers probably feel the affect worst. Bats are the primary consumers of insects. They serve farmers as an insect-control measure worth $4 billion to $50 billion per year, the center says.

In addition, about 600,000 bats are being killed each year in the United States from contact with wind turbines, which are becoming more numerous across North America. The cause of the fatalities is not completely understood, according to federal researchers. 

Pennsylvania's Big Brown Bat,
known as 'the Farmer's Friend' because it devours insects

Theories abound about the cause of fatalities from wind turbines. 

Some scientists suggest that bats are simply flying in the wrong place at the wrong time; others say that bats may be attracted to the motion of the blades themselves. Still others say the bats mistake the turbines for trees and think that the structures are opportunities for food. Yet another theory holds that bats suffer bends-like symptoms from air pressure changes generated by the whirling turbines, resulting in fatal harm to the delicate creatures' internal organs. Bats are able to dodge most human-made structures while being seemingly oblivious to the turbines.

A mammologist at ESU's Department of Biological Sciences, Dr. Whidden has studied the appearance of White-nose Syndrome among bats in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Corridor. He also has assessed bat activity at the Bear Creek and Penobscot Mountain wind farms in Luzerne County.

His lecture is sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, and it coincides with the group's monthly meeting. The meeting is free and open to the public.

The Wildlands Conservancy is located at 3701 Orchard Place in Emmaus. For directions, contact www.wildlandspa.org or call 610-965-4397.