At the beginning of May I was standing at this window watching RMan who waas busy with the alpacas in the paddock and noticed what I thought was a piece of wind blown litter in this little bush...
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| This is our east facing bedroom window (so that we can lie in ed and watch the sunrise - which we've never done lol) |
So, I had to go and remove it. That's me - OCD.
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| Can't remember what this bush is called but it came with us from our town house - t'was a self-seeded baby from the mother plant |
Giving it a good squizz before attempting to remove it, I discovered...
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| On closer inspection "that" doesn't look like a piece of litter. |
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| That because "it" is a bat! |
I wasn't going to touch it to find out if it was still alive - which it obviously was, because it wasn't there the next day.
I've never heard of bats that don't hide themselves away in the dark during the daylight hours, especially given that this is an east facing wall and it, the bush and the bat would've been in the sun all morning.
Weird!
I KNOW bats do a lot of good, but I'm still the old fashioned "EEEK" type of gal. I have a LOT of hair, and when they fly around at dawn while I'm out having my coffee , it FREAKS me out. I'd never kill one, but gosh STAY AWAY from ME!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend.
Sue - I know too, but they also freak me out, which is why there isn't a really, really close up pic of it ;)
DeleteI think bats are SO cool. And so needed in the food chain. They consume massive amounts of mosquitoes and other bugs. I've thought about getting a bat house for the farm. So did you name him? Dracula? Nosferatu? LOL!!!
ReplyDelete1st Man - LOL - nope - didn't name it. Appreciate the work it does, but also appreciate their normal beahviour (not appearing during the dayight hours... :D
DeleteI came across one in the water barrel not long after moving here, he was cute, we have them living in the attic and at 8pm each evening they all start flying out to feed from under the eves of the house great to watch :-)
ReplyDeleteDawn - Yeah, we can see them emerge in the early evening. Not sure if I'd like to have them in our ceiling - am picturing piles of bat guano piling up and that becoming too heavy for our ceiling boards, and then dropping through to the room(s) below...
DeleteWhen I worked in an office, we once had a bat flying around, everyone was freaking out and hiding under desks, but one guy just climbed on a chair, gently folded the bat's wings together and released it out the window. He did get a small nip, but explained that because of their sonar, they will never fly into your hair, in fact, they won't touch you at all. They're also good pollinators, but yes, like snakes, there's that primal fear thing, brrrrr.
ReplyDeletepqsa - My SiL can hold bats too. Me - no thanks. I duck and hide if a bird comes into the house - until RMan has sorted it out. Long hair, and visions of entangled flying creatures, ensure I have an overly respectful distance between me and anything with wings which comes even remotely near to me... :D Guess watching The Birds movie as a teenager left it's mark!
DeleteDani - i asked jambaloney and he said although it isn't common, sometimes a bat finds a nice place to sleep or nap and then doesn't wake up in time to get out the sunlight. your little guy might have been super-tired, a little ill, and just overslept. i am glad that he was gone the next day which means he woke up and flew off. bats are super wonderful as they consume millions of bad insects a night and are super pollinators. and possumqueensa is dead right - it's an old wives tale about bats getting into your hair. and she's right that they will do everything in their power to stay away from you - they're as scared of us as we are of them. i have to admit to always liking bats. we had a little park at the back of our yard in the city - a circle of 13 great white pines. we had our swing in the middle with a bat house about 12 ft in the air. it was quite exhilarating to watch them fly out at night. i loved it.
ReplyDeletesending much love. your friend,
kymber
kymber - "my little guy" bwahahaha
DeleteI know they are very beneficial but I have no wish to make their acquaintance on any level. Sounds wonderful being able to watch them flying above you - as long as they stay their 12 foot up in the air whilst I'm around ;)
That is so cool, and unusual :) I love bats - I don't think I could touch or hold one, but love to watch them swooping through the night sky. I am not sure how true it is, but someone once told me that bats and frogs in your yard are a sign of a healthy eco system and that they are two of the top 5 species we as a society cannot do without ?
ReplyDeleteRosemary - Nope - I couldn't hold or touch one either...
DeleteFrogs - we have plenty - and bats too, so it sounds like RMan and I are doing something right :D
Dani he is just gorgeous, in our house no one would have bothered to get the 'rubbish' and we'd have missed him.
ReplyDeleteKirsty - Gorgeous - I dunno!? Bats scare the bajeebers out of me lol
DeleteI periodically get bats in the house. Two kinds. One is small. They fly onto the log wall and hang there. I catch them in a dish towel, take them outside, and let them go.
ReplyDeleteThe other type is pretty big. Think a flying rat. They swoop all over the living room, because it has a cathedral ceiling. I catch them with a towel, and let them go.
I like to sit out by the meadow at dusk, when the fireflies are glowing, and watch the bats swoop over the grass catching bugs.
Harry - Personally, I couldn't handle either - big or small ;) How does the Missus feel about them?
DeleteYour moments of contemplation at dusk sound wonderful - as long as the bats keep their distance... :D
M doesn't like them. One time a small one swooped into the living room while we were watching tv. I missed it when I tried to get it off the wall, and it flew over her head. As a joke I shouted "don't move, it's in your hair!" She didn't think it was funny.
DeleteHarry - I wouldn't have been amused either...! M has my sympathy ;)
DeleteI've never seen that either. In fact, while we have lots of bats darting around here at dusk (and afterwards) I've never seen one in the daytime. We did have one get in our house once though. My attempt to get it out (while Cherie stood back with her hands carefully guarding her neck) would have made for a hilarious video, though it didn't seem funny at the time. :)
ReplyDeleteBill - Exactly what I thought - surely bats are meant to scurry to their darkened dwellings come daylight - like Dracula? :)
DeleteIsn't it funny how us women instinctively fear bats and cover our head area...?!