Volunteers sought to help survey bat population

(AP) – Delaware wildlife officials are looking for people willing to take their turn at bats.

Officials are holding a training session Thursday for volunteers to help locate bat roosts and to count bats in Delaware as the mammals exit their day-time resting areas.

After training, volunteers will adopt a known bat colony and commit to counting the number of bats within their adopted colony at least twice this summer.

Volunteer-based surveys provide wildlife officials with important scientific information used to monitor and manage the nine species of bats found in Delaware, such as changes in adult bat numbers and how many young are surviving to flight age.

Wildlife officials note that bats are important to Delaware's ecology, feeding on millions of insects, including mosquitoes, beetles, moths and agricultural pests.