We spent some time on the Arkansas River, OK. When we got home it was early evening and I noticed something on the bat house.
Thought it was a bat waiting for us to get the boat out of the way so it could come out.
It was there the next day and the next…couldn’t see what it was with the binoculars so I took a picture and cropped it.
It definitely looks like a bat. Figured it must be dead since it had been in the same spot for a week.
Today we took the 14’ step ladder and an extendable limb trimmer…I climbed up and caught it with the tip and knocked it down.
It was definitely a bat and it has a hole in it’s throat.
I took a couple pictures by a tape measure. It looks like it is about 3” long or 3 1/8”. I don’t know if this would be a Big Brown or a Little Brown Bat. It was outside the 7/8” chamber…Jim made the outside for the Big Browns and the inside chamber is 1/2” for Little Browns….maybe this is a young one?
I had on a pair of latex gloves..the ones I wear when working with the Honey Bees…
It’s a bit fuzzy since I cropped it more but here is a close up of the hole.
No idea what happened to it…could have been a fight or maybe ants got to it after it died.
We had a bat move into this 2 weeks after we put it up…we knew a bat soared around this area…it used to fly over the roof when Mom was alive…she called him “Billy” so Billy it has been….he’s been there all year…before we went boating I counted 2 bats..I sure hope this isn’t Billy. If it is then he most likely died of old age. I think they can live up to 20 years…Mom has been gone 10 years and her Billy kept her company for several years. She enjoyed sitting outside in the evening and watching him zip back and forth.
The bat house looks pretty tall but that palm behind it is about twice as tall. I’m just standing near the bat house.
If you can tell which kind of bat it is or what may have killed it..let me know.
Another day, another mystery, huh? We have plenty of little Browns here. Some of them roost in our barn. We also have many hollow trees in our bush lot. I'm hoping it's your 'Billy' and he died of old age causes in his sleep. The throat hole could have been made by moths.
ReplyDeleteI think our "Billy" came home last night...he has always flown straight in the bat house..others get fancy..up and down up and down then in...this one flew straight in...
DeleteI just got my copy of the Bat House Builder's Handbook today. I see you selected the Rocket Box design. Any particular reason for this type over the other styles? Have you been able to attract a colony? We have a lot of cliff swallows in the neighborhood. Are they bat competitors? Any pointers? Hope to see you on the St. J in late March, April '16. Regards, John (Albin-25 "Ms. Bettencourt.).
ReplyDeleteWe live in FL and figured the Rocket Style would have less windage in hurricanes. So far, only 1 bat permenant resident...14 during the winter.
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