Bats Entertainment

It seems crazy, I know, but watching bats is one of my favorite summer time activities.  I just sit outside in the evening, shortly before dark, and they appear, gliding and maneuvering with great skill above me.  I like to sit still and see how close they will come.  Of course, that depends on how many insects are around me.  A single bat can eat 3000 insects in one night.

                                               image: Jessica Nelson/Nat'l Sci Foundation

I watch the aerial displays and observe that there is more than one species flying overhead.  One emerges early and is larger with slower, erratic flight.  It seems to circle the small opening in the woods on a regular flight path.  Another seems smaller with faster wingbeats but frequent glides.  It also arrives early to the opening.  The first could be a Red Bat, Lasiurus borealis.  I have seen them hanging from the eaves during the fall.  The other is possibly the Silver-haired Bat, Lasionycteris noctivagans.  Our cat has captured one of those in the past.

It is difficult to identify flying bats without a bat detector, a device that would convert the ultrasonic sounds made by bats to a frequency humans can detect.  According to several sources, the Red Bat makes sounds in the 39-50 kHz range, while the Silver-haired Bat has a range of 26-38 kHz.

Still, just watching the aerial antics is entertaining.  I have seen bats fly toward an insect, only to have the insect drop suddenly out of the flight path.  Interactions between 2 bats flying in the same area are also fun to observe.  Sometimes, if I listen carefully, I can hear a chattering sound that bats sometimes make while flying.

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 I can't wait for my granddaughter to visit so I can show her "bat watching" just as we have had fun together watching the birds.





 I have some of my favorite children's books for bats ready to read to her also.
 And I'm sure, the bats will be here, too, performing their nightly feats of aerial agility.