Bat House Management Workshop

Saturday August 22, 2026

Woodward Cave and Campground; 147 Woodward Cave Drive, Woodward PA 16882,

Have bats in a building or are curious on how to safely attract bats to your backyard or management area? Recent work has discovered the majority of Woodward Cave's winter bats overwhelmingly spend their summer in buildings. Spend the day with Bat Conservation and Management's John Chenger and discover why certain bats are found in buildings, how homeowners might safely evict them, and how to build roost boxes to keep happy bats nearby for the insect control. A very special evening event includes viewing live bats as they explore Woodward Cave, using special microphones to eavesdrop on bats speaking, and even viewing a few bats up close watching biologists handle bats for an annual long term research study (tentative). 

Tentative agenda: 

12:00 Lecture: Bats in Buildings & Eviction Ideas
Note this lecture is geared more towards adults but may be enjoyed by all ages

1:30 Lecture: Artificial Roosts for Bats, History and Ongoing Experimentation
Note this lecture is not necessarily geared towards young children

4:00-8:00 Hands on Activity: Becoming a Bat Biologist
Learn some of the tools used to catch, study, document, and conserve bats. These are suitable for all ages and facilitated by working bat biologists. Walk-up activities include:

Build your own BCM DayLodge bat house
Capture and safely remove bats from mist nets
Learn to properly take measurements of bats and record data
Participate in a winter hibernacula survey- see how many bats you can locate hibernating inside part of Woodward Cave 

7:00 Sunset Cave Tour (fee required)

8:00-10:30 Participate in a Real Bat Survey

Watch biologists capture live bats
View live bat behavior inside Woodward Cave with nightvision cameras
Listen for bat echolocation calls using high-frequency sensitive microphones