Bat condos set up at the Port of Montreal to preserve biodiversity

The Montreal Port Authority (MPA) has built an artificial habitat for bats that are likely to frequent the area where its Contrecoeur expansion project will take shape.

Between 2016 and 2021, the MPA conducted acoustic inventories using sound stations placed on its property. These stations detected the presence of different bat species whose status is considered precarious: the tri-coloured bat, the little brown bat, the northern long-eared bat, the red bat, the silver-haired bat and the hoary bat.

To help preserve this biodiversity, the MPA has installed three bat condominiums in Contrecoeur to accommodate these species.

The MPA has undertaken a number of initiatives to protect the wildlife on its territory and to compensate for the effects of its operations on the environment, including the construction of artificial nesting boxes in 2019 for the shore swallows.

The types and number of bats using the condominiums will be documented, and the MPA will provide annual tallies as well as maintain the recent installations.

Credit: Patrick Lauzon