What’s Flying Around Boone? More Than a Few Bats

BIRDSBORO PA – A retired Albright College professor, who also has conducted extensive research on bats, will be the featured speaker July 31 (Friday) at the Daniel Boone Homestead, 400 Daniel Boone Rd.

Dr. Karen Campbell will start her “All About Bats” presentation at 7:30 p.m. in the homestead’s Wayside Lodge. The event is free to attend, and open to the public. It will be followed by a walk to search for bats as dusk falls.

The program was rescheduled from July 17, when it was postponed due to hazardous air quality conditions.

The homestead, known as the 1734 birthplace of frontiersman Boone, also is a habitat for “numerous bats,” according to historic site Manager Amanda Machik. Bat boxes are located throughout the 579-acre property, she reports, and “bats can often be spotted nesting and flying around the site.”

Top photo by James Wainscoat on Unsplash, used under license

“Bats are the only mammals able to fly and are more agile while flying than most birds,” Machik explains.

Campbell, who earned her doctorate in vertebrate physiology and zoology from Indiana University, has studied bats locally too. Her research includes exploration at several eastern Pennsylvania parks and historic sites: Valley Forge, Hopewell Furnace, and the Berks County Heritage Center among them.

The event is being funded and scheduled by the volunteers of the Daniel Boone Homestead Associates. No pets except service animals are allowed, and smoking is prohibited. For more information, call the homestead at 610-582-4900.

Above photo provided by the Daniel Boone Homestead

The homestead is the site of the Boone House, constructed in three stages throughout the 18th century. The 10-room stone structure is fully furnished to the period, and available for public viewing.

It is located halfway between Reading and Pottstown, a mile north of U.S. Route 422 near Baumstown. The homestead is owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

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