Bat Land
I was relaxing on the deck with John this evening after grilling a nice steak. We were just letting our food settle and watching the occasional car go by on our road when we heard a familiar chirping in the air. I looked up and saw to two little brown bats dancing through the dusk air above our heads! Soon after, a third swooped around the deck off into the darkening yard hunting for insects. All three were chirping as they flew by.
I was happy. I had not seen them yet this spring and was wondering if they would be returning to our yard. Our street heads up and down a hill with houses and large trees on either side. At the bottom of the hill is Fawn Lake. At the top, where we are, is our large yard which serves as the bats "turn around" area. They go up and down the hill and then do figure eights in our yard ... or as I have called it, Bat Land.
I am sure there are more than three, but that is all I saw this evening. I am just happy they are back.
Bats unfortunately have a bad undeserved reputation. There are a lot falsehoods out there on them. I encourage you to look them up and see instead what marvelous creatures they are. They are natural pest repellants and eat many more times their size in insects each night! Here is a good website for bat info:
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/13-incredible-bat-facts.htm
When John and I used to live on the Perkiomen Creek in Schwenksville, PA, we had a long concrete dock, about 3 feets wide, go 30 feet out into the creek. It was about 1/3 of the way out. On steamy spring and summer evenings, we would wander out onto the dock and stand still at the very end of it. Soon, swarms of bats would be swirling around us, feeding on thousands of mosquitos and other insects! The bats never flew into us, nor each other as far as we could see. Their sonar was far superior to let that happen. I had my close friend David come over one evening and showed him the bat spectable. We stood their just in awe of it all.
Anyway, I'm so pleased to have the bats back, eating as many mosquitos as they want each night!
I was happy. I had not seen them yet this spring and was wondering if they would be returning to our yard. Our street heads up and down a hill with houses and large trees on either side. At the bottom of the hill is Fawn Lake. At the top, where we are, is our large yard which serves as the bats "turn around" area. They go up and down the hill and then do figure eights in our yard ... or as I have called it, Bat Land.
I am sure there are more than three, but that is all I saw this evening. I am just happy they are back.
Bats unfortunately have a bad undeserved reputation. There are a lot falsehoods out there on them. I encourage you to look them up and see instead what marvelous creatures they are. They are natural pest repellants and eat many more times their size in insects each night! Here is a good website for bat info:
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/13-incredible-bat-facts.htm
When John and I used to live on the Perkiomen Creek in Schwenksville, PA, we had a long concrete dock, about 3 feets wide, go 30 feet out into the creek. It was about 1/3 of the way out. On steamy spring and summer evenings, we would wander out onto the dock and stand still at the very end of it. Soon, swarms of bats would be swirling around us, feeding on thousands of mosquitos and other insects! The bats never flew into us, nor each other as far as we could see. Their sonar was far superior to let that happen. I had my close friend David come over one evening and showed him the bat spectable. We stood their just in awe of it all.
Anyway, I'm so pleased to have the bats back, eating as many mosquitos as they want each night!
Eating Mosquitoes is a real good thing. I keep Gold Fish in our stock tanks, just for that also. Now build them a Bat House, so they can stay close.
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