LAWRENCE: Brearley House bat sees he’s a Shadow

For Carly Welsh and Bailey Cook, coming up with a name for the Brearley House bat was a “no-brainer” — Shadow was the logical name for the historic house’s mascot.

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   For Carly Welsh and Bailey Cook, coming up with a name for the Brearley House bat was a “no-brainer” — Shadow was the logical name for the historic house’s mascot.
   That’s why the Lawrence Intermediate School fourth-grader and the Eldridge Park Elementary School 1st-grader submitted that name to the Lawrence Historical Society, which recently held a “name that bat” contest.
   Apparently, visitors to the Lawrence Historical Society’s booth at Community Day last month felt the same way, because “Shadow” received the most votes among the five potential names for the bat. It beat out Batty, Brearley, Echo and Batster.
   ”I thought ‘Shadow’ was a really pretty name,” said Carly, who attends the Lawrence Intermediate School. “Bats kind of have a shadow. I felt really good (when I learned ‘Shadow’ had won). I had a big smile on my face because I thought it was really awesome to win.”
   Carly learned that she was one of the winners when school officials announced it on the public address system. They said one of the winners is a fourth-grader. Carly said she thought to herself, “I’m in fourth grade.”
   Then, when the announcer said the winner, who is a girl, is a student in Ms. Annese’s class, Carly thought, “I’m in Ms. Annese’s class.” And that’s when it dawned on Carly that the announcer might be talking about her — and then the announcer said, “Carly Welsh.”
   Bailey, on the other hand, thought Shadow was a good name for a bat because bats live in “creepy” houses. His mother, Erin Cook, told him about the name-the-bat contest and he decided to enter the name “Shadow.”
   Bailey learned that he had won the name-the-bat contest during the morning announcements at the Eldridge Park School, where he is in the first grade. He said he was really happy that he won the contest.
   The two winners — Carly and Bailey — were given stuffed toy bats.
   Who knows — Shadow may be the descendant of the bats that have lived in the Brearley House for many years. The Lawrence Township-owned house is located at the end of Meadow Road, off Princeton Pike near Lewisville Road.
   There have certainly been hundreds of bats that have lived in the attic of the Brearley House since it was built in 1761, Rick Dutko said. He is a wildlife biologist at the state Department of Environmental Protection, and a specialist in all matters bat-related.
   Mr. Dutko, who spoke at the Brearley House Oct. 27, said there are about 1,000 species of bats, but only nine species that live in New Jersey. They are small in size, he said.
   Bats lived in the woods, finding homes in the cavities of old trees, Mr. Dutko said. But as the trees were cut down, some species of bats began to move into the attics of houses because they are warm in winter. They go into hibernation.
   Sometimes, bats will wake up during the winter if it is too warm in the attic. Then, it is possible to see them flying around, he said. Other bats head south, where it is warmer and they can find food — typically, insects.
   ”I’m not sure where our Brearley House bats go,” Mr. Dutko said.
   Every year in the fall, bats mate to produce baby bats, he said. Female bats find homes in attics, where they hibernate until March or April. The baby bats are born in late May or early June. By July, the baby bats have learned to fly.
   ”In about three to six weeks, the baby bats are on their own. They develop very, very quickly,” he said.
   Mr. Dutko has been called on occasionally to visit a home to find out if there are bats in the attic. He looks for their droppings, which he can distinguish from a mouse’s dropping by its odor.
   It is important to be careful, because if a bat is threatened, it will do one of two things — fly away, or open its mouth “to scare you or bite you,” Mr. Dutko said. Bats are mammals and they can carry rabies, which is why he wears leather gloves for protection and also gets a rabies vaccination.
   Bats have tiny eyes, so they use echo-locution, he said. To find food, a home or a mate, they send out sound waves from their mouth that bounces back to their ears. They can track down insects and eat them. But bats have to be careful that they do not become part of a meal for owls or hawks, who love to eat them.
   For the past few years, Mr. Dutko has been monitoring the bat population at the Brearley House — twice in June and twice in July. Sometimes, it’s difficult to count the bats. The best time to count is 30 minutes before sunset and 30 minutes after sunset. He watches as they fly in and out of the house.
   ”We hope our bats will be here for another 250 years,” Mr. Dutko said.