Bats

[SeeyaGal]

We have noticed when we have come back home that the bats have been to our home in the Summer and now in the Spring, look up to the corner by the ceiling lamp


This one was taking a break from the wind before it headed back to the Gila Mountain area, they come out at dusk and fly to the river. We are seeing less and less Bats and more insects


This is a dead bat we found on the porch back in Nov


Cats trying to figure out what a Bat is


This little guy was so cute, too bad he was dead!

[Redetotry]

Ohh those give me the shivers!! I posted about this on another link a few days ago.The bats are being wiped out by a disease called white nose syndrome. I've heard many caves are closed and there is a $10,000 fine for going in certain ones here in Illinois. It seems to have started in the East and I don't know how far it spread. Here is one link.
http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_inform ... _syndrome/

Oh and remember bats can carry rabies it has been a problem here.

[Cedar518]

ACK! I don't think I could call that face CUTE! Gives me chills. But then I'll admit when it comes to bats I'm a woos.

[bluepinecones]

I had a bat get in my house a few weeks ago; still do not know how he got inside. Did manage to catch and release him still alive. I do not want to share my space with one quite that close but do know importance to environment. Many of the churches here with taller, well lit towers have large bat populations circling them in the summer.

[WickedLady]

I like bats (in their place; not mine) but do be careful as they are notorious rabies carriers. Don't let your animals play with dead ones and wear gloves when picking one up.

[retiredhappy]

Ditto on the rabies - be careful and DON'T let your pets around dead ones. I had such a mosquito problem at my house that I put up a bat house up under the eaves. When a couple of bats moved in, the mosquitos were gone!! I think they're kinda cute, too. Whoever said "no bats, no bees, no crops" was so right.

[SeeyaGal]

I read that only 5% tested Bats had rabies and 99% were from dogs. Only 40 people have died from rabies in the last 50 yrs.
I had something covering my hand so I was not touching the bat. This dead bat did not have the fungus that most are getting.
I'm not afraid of them. When the kids were little the BIG fruit bats would fly therough the Pioneer barn that we slept in in the summer for summer camp.

[Nasoosie]

Bats are a very important flying insect (especially mosquito) controllers. That white nose syndrome is a very real danger to bats all over the country. Studies are being conducted up here in the Adirondacks to see what, if anything, can be done to halt the spread of this bat-killer disease. At the pond in the summertime, I love to see the bats come awake at dusk and begin collecting mosquitoes all around me.....far nicer than chemicals or those horrid bug zapper things!

IF/when a bat gets into the leanto, I just open the front screen door, and, within just a very few minutes, or seconds, the bat will find the open door with its superb sonar, and go back into the night.

Great bat pics......thanks for posting them!

[Mollysmom]

I love bats (outside, not in my house - HA)
I really enjoy watching them at night and was really sad to read about the bat disease - I sure hope "they" can figure out what's going on and fix the problem.
Jenny, I think that little bat face is sort of cute too
Thanks so much for posting the bat photos, I really enjoyed them !!!

[dpf]

I don't care what anyone says...I think they're ugly little critters and they scare the bejesus out of me.

[Bethers]

I think they're cute, too. And I was so sad that Sparkle and I weren't able to see the flight of them at the caverns last week. Ah, well another reason to have to go back there for a 3rd visit!

[Liz]

Dead bats are definitely the cutest, but they are all interesting from a safe distance.