bat palace

[michael langman]

Thanks for posting the site for building a bat house Roger. I have been meaning to make some for some time now.

When we moved into our house, I opened an upper cupboard that had the vent for the stovetop running through it. A brown bat had made it's way into a container in the cabinet, from the vent outlet outside, and had flattened itself down into a comfortable position, inside the container. I stood there for a minute thinking to myself, what the hell, before I realized what it was. I grabbed the container and put it outside with the bat flapping inside.

The wife was not impressed, because it brought up the memory of the bats flying around her bedroom while she was sleeping, with the door closed. I heard her screaming after waking up, and I had to seal the door off that went to the attic where they liked to roost.

But we do enjoy watchnig the bats at dusk out on the deck. They have been back for a few years now since their downturn.

[John K Jordan]

... A brown bat had made it's way into a container in the cabinet, ...

I have found bats in the oddest places. One had crawled up into the folds of a deck table umbrella, found it when I cranked open the umbrella. I've seen hundreds clinging to the walls in tight places when exploring caves in Tennessee, some a few inches from my arms. They were watching me but never acted disturbed. (This was a half century ago when bats were abundant.)

But my most memorable bat experience was in a narrow abandoned mine tunnel in the highlands of Central Mexico, near Moctezuma. A missionary friend took a few of us exploring and hunting for gold. The passageway was tall, just over my head, and maybe 2' wide. There was a deep pit up ahead that was apparently full of bats and someone in our party must have disturbed them. I heard the sound and felt a wave of wind pressure and looked ahead with my light to see a solid wall of bats coming down the passageway towards me! It was amazing - I stood still and the cloud of bats headed straight for me. A few inches away the cloud split and some went left and right and some into the space over my head. The sound and wind from the wings inches from my head was so incredible. I have no idea how many bats there were but the exodus went on for what seemed like several minutes. 10s or 100s of thousands, millions? Then in an instant they were past and all I could hear was shrieking from a girl further back in the tunnel.

That was odd, could it be that some people don't like a cloud of bats flying past their face?

JKJ

[John Goodin]

My mother in law is terrified of bats. I might have to build one and put it in the front yard.

When the city built a bridge over the river the underside turned out to be a perfect for bats. Every summer it is home to 1.5 million Mexican free tailed bats. Quite a site to see flying off in the evening.

[michael langman]

I have found bats in the oddest places. One had crawled up into the folds of a deck table umbrella, found it when I cranked open the umbrella. I've seen hundreds clinging to the walls in tight places when exploring caves in Tennessee, some a few inches from my arms. They were watching me but never acted disturbed. (This was a half century ago when bats were abundant.)

But my most memorable bat experience was in a narrow abandoned mine tunnel in the highlands of Central Mexico, near Moctezuma. A missionary friend took a few of us exploring and hunting for gold. The passageway was tall, just over my head, and maybe 2' wide. There was a deep pit up ahead that was apparently full of bats and someone in our party must have disturbed them. I heard the sound and felt a wave of wind pressure and looked ahead with my light to see a solid wall of bats coming down the passageway towards me! It was amazing - I stood still and the cloud of bats headed straight for me. A few inches away the cloud split and some went left and right and some into the space over my head. The sound and wind from the wings inches from my head was so incredible. I have no idea how many bats there were but the exodus went on for what seemed like several minutes. 10s or 100s of thousands, millions? Then in an instant they were past and all I could hear was shrieking from a girl further back in the tunnel.

That was odd, could it be that some people don't like a cloud of bats flying past their face?

JKJ

I think I could maybe handle one or two flying around but any more and I'm outa there! That must have been incredible.

I remember being at a lake in texas many years ago out in the middle of nowhere. When I pulled up in my car and got out thousands of ducks and geese took off in flight at the same time.
The sound was so loud, that I was dumbfounded,and standing there with my mouth open in awe of what was happening. I was thinking to myself, Did I just cause this and scare all these birds away.

[John K Jordan]

... thousands of ducks and geese took off in flight at the same time. The sound was so loud, that I was dumbfounded,and standing there with my mouth open in awe of what was happening. I was thinking to myself, Did I just cause this and scare all these birds away.

Incredible!

I did that once. But cormorants, instead of ducks. I was surf fishing at the Outer Banks in the winter of 2000 when I went around the south end of Okracoke island and saw the biggest group of birds I've ever seen in my life.

cormorants_outerbanks_Nov2000.jpg

I stopped and got out of the jeep and took photos. You know how you get a rough estimate of something - look for a group of about 10, ok 10 of those would be about 100, 10 of those 1000, etc.? I estimated 50,000 cormorants in that spot, all standing on the beach facing the same direction! I took some incredible photos then they suddenly took flight. The flock circled around and went up the coast. There were so many the sun was completely blocked for a while! Literally awesome. I suspected they were just enjoying a quiet afternoon with a few friends until I showed up and crashed the party.

JKJ

[David Utterback]

NC Wildlife monthly has a good article on bats. Says the next 3 months are rearing season so recommends to let them stay where they are until end of July.

https://www.ncwildlife.org/News/wild...rearing-season