Edmonton Bat Discovery – August 28, 2026

September 1, 2026

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Text and photos by Lindsey Wallis

AWA brought our bat adventure to Edmonton this year and is was hugely popular! We were very lucky to have Cory Olson from the Alberta Community Bat Program join us, and he brought along a very special guest. Batsby is a rescued hoary bat who cannot be released due to a broken wing so now he gets to come and teach people how cool bats are. After spending some time learning about bat behaviour and the threats currently facing bats in general and the ones now listed as endangered in Canada, folks got to get up close and personal with Batsby, who spent the time roosting on Cory’s chest and later in a bush. It was very clear why you rarely see hoary bats roosting – even knowing exactly where he was in the bush, Batsby was almost indistinguishable from a dead leaf.

As the sky became dark we headed down Whitemud Creek, bat detectors in hand. We were able to use detectors from different generations, some that are big, chunky units with dials and incandescent bulbs and others that simply plug into your phone and connect to an app. We “heard” a few different species through the detectors as we wandered through the dark forest, before turning around in a grove of big old conifers.