Nanananana Bat...

peasant

...man, they can fly!

Just out there watching the bats patrolling the hedgerow for midges and other critters.

It's still bright out and you can see them clearly.

The aerobatics are something else, nothing manmade will ever come close.

These fellas can do a full turnaround at top speed ...on the spot.

Fascinating stuff.

Gregor Samsa

Used to have them fly down the passageway at the side of my house. You’d feel the breeze of them swooshing over your head if you were putting stuff in the bins just around sunset. They haven’t been here in a few years, though. I was just thinking of them the other day because a good photo of a bat in flight is something I’d love to take.

its_steve116

peasant wrote: »

...man, they can fly!

Just out there watching the bats patrolling the hedgerow for midges and other critters.

It's still bright out and you can see them clearly.

The aerobatics are something else, nothing manmade will ever come close.

These fellas can do a full turnaround at top speed ...on the spot.

Fascinating stuff.

Can I just ask, where is this?

Lillyfae

I never feel at home unless there's a bat or two in my garden, I love the little guys. They keep the flies at bay too, bonus!!

Bob Harris

This little fella appeared on my porch a few years ago clung to the wall.
He was taken in and looked after, given a place to hang out, fed with goats milk, cleaned and cared for.
I got a terrarium from a friend to give him more space and and I think that's what killed him, I don't know if a temperature change or infection.
He had been fine for almost 3 weeks up to that and perished within two days of putting him in.
He had been getting bigger and more mobile and it was a real pity he didn't make it.
Miss ya Brucie.

peasant

its_steve116 wrote: »

Can I just ask, where is this?

Rural-ish area in Sligo.

We have about 3/4 acre with lots of trees and bushes not too far from water, therefore also lots of insects.

Quite a few nesting birds, daily patrols of swifts and swallows (they nest somewhere else close by) and the bats at night. Need a clear summer's night to see them though.

Would love to know where they roost, all I know is that it's not in our attic or shed.
There's at least two different kinds also. One is quite a lot bigger than the other and the big one has somewhat rounder wings.

Leg End Reject

I grew up in a rural area and bats, hedgehogs and foxes were a common sight, birds everywhere too. I'm in suburbia now so very little wildlife about unfortunately.

The bats from my childhood roosted in attics, barns, sheds and trees.

Bats get a bad rep, a lot of people are afraid of them or think they get tangled in your hair.

NickNickleby

When I was a child in a housing estate in suburban north Dublin, we discovered that bats were flying round beside a small grove of trees in a field behind our houses. We used to throw small pieces of cardboard, about the size of a dinner plate, into the air and watch the bats making sharp turns to avoid them. Some of us could 'hear' them squeaking, although many others couldn't hear a thing.
Many years later I discovered I could hear sounds in the mid 20'sKHz range. So there's no doubt in my mind I could have heard them.

I recently put a frequency generator on my phone, and as expected I hear nothing above 13KHz. I blame the phone :pac:

Bob Harris

There's a river about 200m away and in the summer just as it's getting dark there'll be lots of them zooming around letting out high-pitched squeaks. It wasn't unusual for them to get caught in the fishing line as you casted. Never fun disentangling an angry bat from your line in the near darkness.

Duckworth_Luas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47NtRTuQy50

Purple is a Fruit

LEADERRRRRR!

iamstop

Saw a deer this morning on the way to work. See them pretty regularly here tbh.
Do be seeing the groundhogs too on the way to work.
Tis the goose season right now. See them and their goslings everywhere.
Occasionally see a beaver in the river or by the bank.
There is rabbits living in my back.
Seen some jack rabbits down the cycle trail. Those are crazy looking.
See the bats sometimes.
Seen a few foxes over the years
Saw a porcupine up a tree 2 year ago.
Saw a wolf running along the highway about 3 years ago.
Loads of cool birds. Humming birds, pelicans, owls, even some hawks and eagles.
Heard many times but so far not seen and coyotes.
Saw moose prints but no moose.
Seen a bear in BC but not yet here in MB.

Vita nova

We've had bats in our attic for at least 10 years. There's hole just underneath the apex of the gable end that a lazy builder never filled in and through which the bats have taken possession of part of our attic. I wouldn't even know they were there but for the bat droppings on the attic floor. By the way, bat droppings are dry and fluffy and they used to say that decades of droppings in the attics of old houses served as thermal insulation.

I have seen and heard them occasionally as they make their way back to our shared house. They approach the small hole at high speed from all angles without any sign of slowing down and then disappear inside.

peasant

Very much beyond the limits of my camera (and my skills), but they are so busy again this evening, I managed to get at least one semi-presentable shot: