Flying-fox community news December 2022
View flying-fox community news.
Article by Brooklyn Hare, Natural Areas Conservation Officer, Sunshine Coast Council
Hello again! Please enjoy both the first and final edition of flying-fox community news for 2022.
Wow what a busy year it has been, especially for our furry friends, so we apologise for the lack of updates.
You might be wondering what the flying-foxes have been up to all year?
Well, we’d love to give you a recap, and tell you all about what the flying-foxes of the Sunshine Coast typically get up to all year long.
January
January
To start the year off we generally have all three of our local flying-fox species visiting us all here on the Sunshine Coast. The black flying-fox, grey-headed flying-fox, and little red flying-fox.
The black flying-fox and grey-headed flying fox are our longer-term furry neighbours, periodically making use of summer and winter roost all across the Sunshine Coast region all year round.
At this time of year, the young of both the ‘blacks’ and ‘greys’ are becoming independent and learning to fly. Once this happens, and the young flying-foxes pass flying-school, they start leaving their mothers to form into separate groups of juveniles either at the edge of their existing roost or at another site. These we commonly call ‘bachelor camps’ and are the beginning of new social grouping structures.
February - What's that smell?
February - What's that smell?
This time of year, our males start to form their mating territories before the mating season occurs over March and April. This includes marking territories and attracting mates with a very distinct and strong odour from glands on their shoulders that they wipe on branches. You may be able to smell this increased odour... And it can be particularly impactful after rain (when flying-foxes re-mark the trees), and in hot and humid weather (welcome to Summer on the Sunshine Coast!).
You can try and reduce this impact by closing your windows, circulating air with an air conditioner, and including things like scented candles or incense inside your home to make this period more bearable and pleasant.
March - April - What's that noise?
March - April - What's that noise?
Mating season has begun! Adult black and grey-headed flying-foxes have now began mating, and in the process are making a lot of noise doing it. This can occur for almost 24 hours a day, and for around four weeks during this eight-week period. This can be the most disruptive time of year if you happen to live nearby these noisy neighbours.
But don’t stress! We still hear you over all the noise from mating activities. Council have continued efforts to reduce the impacts from high-impact urban roosts. These actions are governed by our Regional Flying-fox Management Plan, which has been endorsed by the state government, and is approved by the federal government as a conservation agreement.
Our main management actions include:
- understorey weed reduction,
- roost tree removal,
- habitat restoration,
- sprinkler system deterrents.
To learn more about what council are doing at each roost site, check out our BatMap webpage.
May - June - July - August
May - June - July - August
Brrrr! You may have noticed a temperature change as the seasons shift and Winter sets in. However, this isn’t the only shift happening on the Sunshine Coast at this time of year.
During the winter months our ‘greys’ and ‘blacks’ move from their coastal ‘Summer’ roosts to their ‘Winter’ roosts.
Why is this you ask?
To celebrate CHRISTMAS IN JULY of course!!
These Winter roosts are selectively chosen based on their close proximity to winter flowering plants where our now pregnant mummas in their gestation period celebrate and indulge and eat and eat and eat! This way the mums can fatten themselves up and prepare to soon rear their young.
September - October
September - October
Once again, a change in seasons means a change in flying-fox roosts as the greys and blacks return to their summer roost sites as the weather heats back up! These coastal summer roosts are also referred to as maternity roosts as the now extremely full mummas give birth to their young (also known as a pup) and remain at this site until the young become independent.
Flying-fox pups are completely dependent on their mummas to survive, clinging to her belly for around 6-8 weeks. After this, the babies get put into a ‘creche’ (like a flying-fox day-care) where each of the mums take turns heading out and feeding each night. When they return, the mums can identify their individual pup from their distinct call. As newborns call for their mother, maternity roosts will start to get noisier at night.
Did you know?
If stressed or disturbed in late-stage pregnancy or early after birth, mothers may abort foetuses or abandon their young. Where possible, Sunshine Coast Council will avoid management actions during this period.
December - January
December - January
And that’s a wrap!
Quite literally our mummas will unwrap their wings they have used to tightly clutch their babies as they become more and more independent and venture into the big wide world.
The Little Reds!!
Tis’ the season of the Little Reds! Arriving fashionably, yet predictively late to the end-of-year festivities you may have noticed the little red flying-fox have joined us in late November-early December as they do most years. This species of flying-fox, unlike the black and grey-headed flying-fox species LOVE to party, and generally only visit the Sunshine Coast from this time until around April to celebrate Christmas, New Years AND Easter! Oh, and they may be here to mate and feed on the Pink Bloodwoods that flower at this time of year too.
So, you might want to crank up the Christmas carols… These little guys may be the smallest flying-fox species in Australia, but they are also mighty loud. Unlike their grey and black cousins, little red flying-foxes are the noisiest, and travel in larger numbers (sometimes in the tens of thousands or more). We understand this may be overwhelming, but thankfully we get some reprieve with the Little Reds disappearing just as quickly as they arrived to fly back to western and central Queensland to give birth and rear their young.
Make sure you stay in the loop and keep an eye out for our upcoming Flying-fox Community News to find out where on the Sunshine Coast the little reds decided to party.
Bats are friends, not foes
If you didn’t already know about our native neighbours who also share the beautiful land of the Sunshine Coast, you now know what to typically expect for the upcoming year. If you live along the coast or near a known roost site, there are some measures you can take to make living with flying-foxes a little easier.
- Bring your washing in at night
- Park your cars under shelter
- Keep doors and windows closed at dawn and dusk to reduce disturbance during fly-in and fly-out.
- Remove or cover fruit and flowers on fruiting and flowering trees on your property
- Keep dogs and cats inside at night and away from roost sites. Keep pet food and water indoors.
- Move quietly near roost sites to avoid disturbance – they make more noise when disturbed
There are also some simple, non-harmful deterrents which may be of assistance on your property, such as:
- Creating a visual/sound/smell barrier with fencing or hedges with plants that do not produce edible fruit or nectar-exuding flowers
- Planting a buffer of low vegetation such as shrubs, providing a screen between your yard and roosting/feeding trees
- Placing predator decoys (e.g. owls) or reflective/shiny deterrents (e.g. CDs or aluminium foil strips) on verandas or in trees
- Keeping food or habitat trees trimmed
- When landscaping, plant fruit or habitat trees away from your home (or don’t use these plants at all).
Flying-foxes are the most important species for plant pollination, meaning they play an extremely important role in helping keep our native forests of the Sunshine Coast healthy. So now, more than ever, we need to find ways to co-exist with these incredibly important native neighbours.