Samuel Konyndyk spends his days building homes for night creatures.
The teen has been fascinated by bats since a childhood trip to Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave.
“Seeing all those bats there on the ceiling and thinking, ‘This is so cool!’ We also learned about white nose syndrome and how it's hurting the bat population. I just remember wanting to help them.”
A wish he’s now fulfilling, partnering with Kent County Parks to build and place bat boxes in Fallasburg, Seidman, and Townsend Parks to help control insects, especially mosquitos.
“We have a total of eight bat boxes that we’re installing. Each box has four chambers and can fit up to 400 bats so that’s a lot of bats if you think about it. If each bat box had 300 bats in it, they’d eat 2.9 million insects a night.”
Konyndyk will also post educational signage under each box to educate people on the vital role bats play in the ecosystem.
“They are an indicator species which means scientists will look at them to see how well the ecosystem will function in the next couple of years.”
Good for the environment and the economy, says Konyndyk, saving farmers about $53 billion yearly in pesticide costs.
They are also key pollinators, particularly in southern regions.
“Without bats we would not have tequila so next time you have tequila, thank bats for that.”
Konyndyk recommends anyone wanting to build their own bat boxes follow guidelines on the Bat Conservation International website.
