Have you noticed the absense of bats and a lot more flying insects this summer?

Yess. I live in the Catskills and heard about a year ago that bats had been decimated by a virus dubbed, "The Blue Nose Disease". My curiousity peaked, I began researching the story and learned that bats, particularly in the NE and Mid Atlantic United Sates, had been virtuall wiped-out by what they belive is a virus. I imagine many people thought, "Good riddance. Bats give me the willies." I remeber sitting in our livingroom at hight, where we have a large picture widow. At night, we'd draw the curtains but the light still shown through to the outside and would attract all manner of insect (particularly moths) to the window pain. Inveriably, we'd begin hearing what sounded like bird's wings cently brushing against the window, again and again, for hours. Finally, I went to investigate and was astounded to discover that bats had learned that insects were avaiilable aplenty right outside that picture window. A bat's abilities to maneuver are without rival. They deftly swooped into within millimeters of the glass, expertly snagging a hapless insect on every pass. They gat so close that their wings actually brushed the window as they cut and dove and flew off, taking with them another unwanted insect. Unfortunately, last year and this summenr I have yet to see one bat. My heighbor is setting-up some type of structure which he hopes will attract bats if they return to the area. He's a farmer and cannot say strongly enough how much good the bats do in terms of reducing the size of insect infestations. One things certain, despite al the negative press bats have been sucjected to, they are a highly beneficial creature for the farmer and Individual, alike. I hope they are able to recover and return to our area soon, because the pesky insects are getting way out of hand and poisoning them is frought with potentially disasterous consequences.