MassWildlife: Five Years of Bat House Monitoring

03:50PM / Tuesday, December 23, 2025Print Story | Email Story

December is a season of gratitude—and this year, we're shining a light on MassWildlife's volunteer bat house monitoring program. Thanks to the dedication of 23 volunteers across Massachusetts, all 34 bat houses at 30 sites were monitored regularly during the summer months in 2025 despite mosquitoes, summer storms, and busy schedules. Over the past five years, a total of 53 volunteers have contributed to the program. Seven volunteers have participated every year since the start of the program, providing consistency and invaluable expertise that guides and strengthen the project.

Massachusetts is home to nine bat species. Several, including the little brown bat and northern long-eared bat, have suffered steep population declines due to white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has devastated bat colonies across North America. Summer roosts are essential for bat survival because they provide females a safe, warm place to raise their pups.

Bats roost in natural areas like tree cavities, and in structures like house attics and barns. Bat houses play an important role in conservation by providing alternative summer roosting habitat when other suitable sites aren't available. Properly designed and placed bat houses can support colonies of dozens to hundreds of bats, giving them a secure location to rest during the day. By relieving pressure on human structures, bat houses also help reduce conflicts between people and bats.

Results from bat house monitoring are as follows:

Year 1: 16 percent occupied, 26 percent showed potential use
Year 2: 7 percent occupied, 10 percent showed potential use
Year 3: 10 percent occupied, 23 percent showed potential use
Year 4: 6 percent occupied, 15 percent showed potential use
Year 5: 15 percent occupied, 9 percent showed potential use

Although bats can take several years to adopt artificial roosts, the signs of activity we see each summer are promising. Bat house occupancy varies, which is expected since bats naturally rotate between multiple roosts. These results show steady signs of bat activity and a strong likelihood that the houses will continue to be used in the future.

Volunteer bat house monitoring efforts are helping MassWildlife understand species distribution and abundance in Massachusetts, which bat house designs and placements are most successful, and how bat populations respond to changes in habitat availability. Every observation helps build a clearer picture of bat ecology in our state, informing both research and conservation strategies. Thanks again to all of our volunteers for your dedication to bat conservation.

Tags: bats, MassWildlife,

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Pittsfield Schools Schedule Morningside, Budget Hearings This Week

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:23AM / Monday, April 06, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee will hold another public hearing for the potential closure of Morningside Community School.

On Thursday, April 9, at 6 p.m., community members will have the chance to give feedback in the Reid Middle School library. Last month, the Pittsfield Public Schools announced the possible closure of Morningside, which serves elementary grades, for the 2026-2027 school year and redistribution of its students to other city schools.

In the last couple of weeks, the district has solicited input from employees and community members through meetings at the school.

Morningside Community School was built in the mid-1970s with an open classroom concept. Morningside serves about 374 students and has a 7 percent accountability score, outperformed by 93 percent of the state.

For fiscal year 2027, the district has allocated about $5.2 million for the school. The committee has also requested a version of the proposed $87.2 million district budget with Morningside closed.

Pittsfield has another open concept school, Conte Community School, that is planned to consolidate with Crosby Elementary School, and possibly Stearns Elementary School, in a new building on the Crosby site by 2030. The status of the project's owner's project manager will be discussed on Tuesday, April 7, at 5 p.m. at Taconic High School during the School Building Needs Commission meeting.

That leaves the school officials wondering if Morningside students could have better educational outcomes if resources followed them to other nearby schools. Interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips has stressed that a decision has not yet been made.

Considerations for the school’s closure include: The feasibility of the facility to provide a conducive teaching and learning environment with an open campus design, the funding allocation needed to ensure Morningside students can have equitable learning opportunities, and declining enrollment across Pittsfield elementary schools.