Moths fight back!

At the end of my bat program in Mendon this morning, an audience member told me about a new discovery where tiger moths actually use their own sounds to jam or confuse the bats hunting them. First, I had never considered that moths made sounds. Second, wow!!!!!

There are several species of moth who, when hearing the echolocation calls of an approaching bat, will stop in mid-flight and drop to the ground in order to avoid capture. Now, thanks to research done in part by biologist William Conner at Wake Forest University, we know that some moths have developed much more sophisticated means of protecting themselves from bats.

Follow the link below to read the article, listen to the radio feed, and watch the video that shows the moths at work. The video is a short 3 minutes and 30 seconds but is incredible. The video includes close-up slow motion footage of both Big Brown and Red bats as they hunt. During the slow-motion footage of the Big Brown bat Conner points out the “built in catcher’s mitt” (tail membrane) that the bats use to help capture prey. Watch the red bat as it performs aerial acrobatics to outwit the moths which try to protect themselves with the “stop and drop” method.

At the bottom of the main page you will find additional links to bat-related news stories.

When you watch the video don’t forget to maximize the picture!

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106733884

If the link gives you trouble go to npr.org and type When Bats Attack into the search tool.

Bat Detectors

Bat detectors are just about one of the coolest things you can have if you are interested in bats. But what is a bat detector? And how does it detect bats? To answer these questions we first need to learn a little more about the bats themselves.

We all know that bats are nocturnal (active at night) and that the bats that live in New York are insectivores (feed only on insects). The question that often comes up is “just how do bats fly around in the dark and manage to catch mosquitoes and other insects without running into things?” The answer is echolocation. Bats use sound to find their way through the night sky. As they zip and zoom in the air above our heads, bats are constantly making noises. The noises bounce or echo off of anything that is in front of them. With their large ears, the bats hear the echoes and the sounds create a map in their minds of the landscape in front of them.

One of the coolest things about echolocation is that the noises the bats make are so high pitched that our tiny human ears can’t hear them. (This is a good thing. If you think spring peepers are hard to sleep through just imagine how loud it would be if you could hear all of the bats.) Enter the bat detector.

Bat detectors are kind of like universal translators (for all of you Star Trek fans). The detector translates the echolocation calls of bats so that we can hear them. By hearing the bats’ echolocation calls we can get a better understanding of how bats find their way and their food but, we can also hear every time they catch an insect – even when it’s too dark to see the bats.

As bats are echolocating the sounds that come out of the bat detector sound like a series of clicks. As the bats get closer to an insect the clicks get faster until, just before they catch the insect, we hear a sound that sounds a little bit like a zipper. This sound is called a “feeding buzz.” The feeding buzz tells us that the bat just caught something.

Now imagine you are out on your front lawn, relaxing in the soft grass, and enjoying the evening bat show overhead – but now there’s a soundtrack. Who needs fireworks when there are bats flying overhead?

Bat detectors aren’t just for fun, they are also used by bat biologists to help study bats and survey bat populations. Thanks to some very fancy bat detectors and sophisticated computer programs, scientists can distinguish the echolocation calls of different species. By combining bat detectors with other survey techniques, scientists can get a more accurate picture of bat populations.

Where can I get my own bat detector? Well, all bat detectors are not created equal. The cheapest bat detectors I have seen were about $50 and you had to put them together yourself. I’ve never used one of the inexpensive varieties so I can’t speak to their usefulness. The most expensive detectors I have seen run about $1850, with a whole range of prices in between.

I have had the detector pictured above for 20 years now and it is still working great. Despite its cheap green appearance it cost around $250. The benefit of more expensive detectors is being able to tune to a wide range of frequencies. (Not all bats echolocate at the same frequency.) Less expensive models are generally tuned only to one frequency.

Of the one-frequency models available, I have seen ones for as little as $99, but they are getting harder to find. Check out the links below to see what’s out there and do some searching on your own as well.

www.batcatalog.com

www.acornnaturalists.com

www.scientificsonline.com

To hear what echolocation sounds like follow this link:

www.econvergence.net/feedbuzz.wav

So you want to see some bats…

No matter how many times I tell people that bats are all around us they still think they have to travel great distances or resort to extraordinary measures to see them. Not so! Below are some simple and, especially if you live in Western New York, accessible ways to see bats today.

• Backyard/Front Yard – Find out when sunset is and, about 30 minutes before, find a nice patch of grass in your yard and lay down so you have a full view of the darkening skies. (This is even more fun with a buddy because you can chat as you scan the sky for bats.) Bats leave their day roosts and begin foraging before the sun sets. You will be able to distinguish the bats from the birds thanks to their unique silhouettes and crazy aerial acrobatics as they forage for insects.
• Local Park/Pond/Creek – All bats, regardless of species, seek out water when they first leave their roosts. Find a still or slow-moving body of water and stake out a spot along the banks just before sunset. Bats drink “on the wing,” which means they fly low over the water and open their mouths to grab a drink as they pass. Slow and still water bodies are especially attractive to the smaller insect-eating bats like Myotis lucifugus (Little Brown Bat) because they eat many of the softer-bodied insects that lay their eggs in water (mosquito, midge, mayfly).
• Take a trip to the Zoo – If you live in Western New York there are several nice zoos within an easy driving distance. Seneca Park in Rochester doesn’t currently have any bats in its collection. I’m fairly certain Buffalo doesn’t have any either. But, a trip to Syracuse’s Rosamond Gifford Zoo (RGZ) will reward the traveler with not one but two species of bats. RGZ has Egyptian fruit bats (think Stellaluna) and, if you look carefully, white-winged vampire bats. The vampire exhibit is easily passed over so pay attention and don’t be too shy to ask a docent if you need help finding them.

Alright, now you know what to do! Summer is already here – don’t waste it. Get out there and find the bats!

Bats on the Web

Hey, gang. Sorry to be quiet for so long. My life has been catching up with me lately and I haven’t been able to find the time to post. Between the end of the semester and moving to a new apartment, things are a little bit crazy. So…to keep with the batty fun I thought I would share some of my favorite bat-related web pages with you. These pages are all worth a look:

Bat Conservation International’s site: www.batcon.org

The best place on the Web to buy bat stuff: www.speleobooks.com

A worthy cause: www.batworld.org

Bat World is an incredible sanctuary for bats that is run by Amanda Lollar. Several years ago I got a call about a wounded bat at our local grocery store. I got the bat, gave it a safe place to rest, and then panicked about how I would find someone in New York State who could properly take care of it. My search ultimately led me to the Bat World website and a phone call with Amanda herself. Amanda gave me some basic triage instructions and – all the way from Texas – found me a rehabber in New York who could care for the bat.

Amanda is sort of a folk hero of mine. I first learned of her when I read her book The Bat in My Pocket.It’s a quick read, and so worth the time. Besides running the bat sanctuary, Amanda educates the public and runs week-long “Bat Boot Camps” to train new bat rehabilitators.

Well, back to the homework. Have fun with the websites and check out Amanda’s book. Oh! And check out our new site: www.batphile.com

Unwanted Company

As spring gears up and bats continue to return to our area it is time to answer an important and common question:

What do you do when a bat flies into your house?

First and foremost, don’t panic! When a bat finds itself suddenly inside your house it will be panicking enough for the both of you. I can’t count how many times I have heard tales of bats found in houses and how the bats began “flying at and trying to attack” the people who live inside. Believe me, the very last thing a bat wants is to have to deal with you at all. From a bat’s perspective, “You” equals “big scary animal that might eat me.”

When a bat finds itself inside your house the first thing it does is survey its new surroundings to try and find a way back out. The best way to conduct the survey, if you are a bat, is to fly in large arcs from corner to corner and back again. Unfortunately, this is usually the time when people realize there is a bat in the house and misinterpret this behavior as an attack.

So what should you do?

The best thing you can do for yourselves and the bat is this: open a window or door (screens, too) to act as an escape route for the bat; close off the room from the rest of the house, if you can, and leave the bat alone to find its way out. One of two things will happen: the bat will either discover the escape route and happily leave, or the bat will find somewhere to stop and rest inside the room (hanging from a picture frame, a spot on the wall, etc.).

This looks like a good spot

After you have given the bat ample time to leave, if you enter the room and find it is still there but now resting peacefully, use the age-old method of spider removal but on a slightly bigger scale. Using an empty coffee can (or bowl, box, etc.), and wearing gloves, slowly cover the bat with the can and then slide a piece of cardboard or thick paper underneath to trap the bat in your can.

Don't forget gloves!

 

Grandma won't mind if we use her Easter card to help the bat

Don’t stop reading just yet! Now comes the important part…

Once you have the bat, take it outside of your house and find a nice tree. Bend down and very gently allow the bat to slide out of the can so it is now resting at the base of the tree, right next to the trunk. This is very important because New York bats are not able to take flight from the ground. This means that if you put it in the middle of your patio or lawn you have stranded the bat. Once stranded, the bat will suffer from the cool of the night and being unable to find food. Even more likely is that a predator will turn the bat into a quick meal.

Be gentle

By placing the bat at the base of a tree it is able to climb up the trunk and out to a branch where it can drop and take flight as it would from a bat house (that’s why they don’t have bottoms!) or other roost.

Free at last

Now you have safely removed/released the bat from your home and you have a new story to tell around the watercooler at work the next day. Yea!

Eptesicus Fuscus

It’s nearing the end of March and that means it’s finally time for our beloved New York bats to return from their Winter respite. Whether the bats that hibernate, or those that simply migrate, the nine species of bats that call New York home will begin to once again fill our skies with their incredible insect-eating acrobatics. The first of the bats to return in our area are the Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus).

Big Brown Bats – or BBBs for short – are hibernators. While our best-know hibernators, the little brown bats, are still tucked away the BBBs are up and already on the hunt. Among NY bats BBBs are the most cold-tolerant. Because of this, as Fall arrives and creeps towards Winter, the BBBs are among the last bats to seek hibernation sites. In NY BBBs have been seen flying as late as November and have been known to occasionally overwinter in attics. When Winter makes its last stand and Spring arrives with a chilly start, BBBs are among the first to reappear.

Big Brown Bats are excellent aerial hunters and provide very important pest control services to farmers and gardeners throughout the state. Due to their larger size they eat larger insect prey and gobble up many species of moth and beetle pests that attack food crops.

Like their smaller cousins the Little Brown Bats, BBBs will often utilize bat houses during the summer months although they don’t congregate in groups quite as large as the LBBs. If a bat house isn’t available a darkly painted shutter will serve just as well…

Eptesicus fuscus

Happy New Year!

Is it Spring yet? Maybe not quite yet but this bat is already stirring, getting ready for a new year full of new programs and bat adventures.

Last year saw a record number of program requests and we’re hoping this year will be even bigger. Aside from  the bat talks we’re adding a new dimension to our 2009 program offerings – spiders. Although our spider programs won’t be available for booking until June – we’re having a blast creating the new programs and learning all sorts of amazing spider facts (and buying all sorts of cool spider things!).  We can’t wait until we book our first one!

So, stay tuned folks…there’s lots more to come!

Dark Banquet

Schutt, Bill. Dark Banquet: Blood and the curious lives of blood-feeding creatures. New York: Harmony Books, 2008. 325pp. ISBN 978-0-307-38112-5.

 

I found this book by accident and I can’t believe I almost left it on the shelf at the bookstore. It’s been a long time since I’ve picked up a book that I couldn’t put down – especially a work of non-fiction. As the cover implies, the book is about blood and creatures that feed on blood. I’m sure you’ve already guessed at what initially got my attention: the bat flying across the cover. The first section of this 100 pages of this 325-page book is devoted to vampire bats.

 

It was several days before I finally took the time to start reading the book. I had already convinced myself that it wasn’t going to be much of a page-turner. Imagine my surprise when, by only the second page, my eyes were widening and I was saying aloud to my apartment “oh my God!” In just two short pages I learned something about vampire bats that I never would have imagined. (No, I’m not going to tell you – go get the book!) I was glued and planted myself on the couch to feverishly devour the 100-page section on vampire bats. The next day at work my co-workers were subjected to an impromptu lecture about all of the amazing new things I had learned. In fact, I told just about anyone who would listen because I was so excited about my new information.

 

I’m afraid that this is turning into one of those movie reviews which is better than any movie could ever live up to. My excitement was due in part to the fact that it had been so long since I had learned something really new and interesting about bats. And I couldn’t wait to share my new knowledge at my next bat lecture (is it February yet?).

 

What makes this book such a wonderful read (yes, even the chapters on leeches, bedbugs, and blood-letting) is the author’s writing style. He manages to blend scientific fact, history, first-hand accounts, and humor into a pleasurable yet extremely informational read. If you are looking for something different to read, go get this book. I guarantee it will be different than any other book about bats you have read. (And just imagine all of the interesting chit chat when you start sharing your new-found information!)

Bats and Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are a pest to many but, even so, they are important parts of our environment and play vital roles in many food webs. Not to be left out, they are a large part of the diets of many bats including the most common bat in the United States – the Little Brown Bat.

Having said that, I would like you to follow the link here and read something that was forwarded to me earlier today: http://www.parade.com/askmarilyn/archive/Sundays-Column-11-09-08.html?archive=true 

Marilyn vos Savant, in her column Ask Marilyn, argues that mosquitoes are not essential to any predator and thus their eradication would have no ill effects on animals or the environment. She goes on to state that  mosquitoes “are not known to be helpful in any way.” We are all familiar with the biting, blood-sucking, disease-spreading habits of the female mosquito. What few people know is that the males feed on nectar and, in turn, act as pollinators.

The eradication of any species which is native to an environment will have detrimental and lasting effects. When the talk turns to eradicating mosquitoes I shudder at the thought of how such a feat would be accomplished. How many tons of chemicals would be released into the landscape and kill not only mosquitoes but many other species? Aargh.

Giant Bats in NY?

Part of every bat talk I give includes an introduction to the nine species of bats that call New York State home. Surprisingly, at the end of many of my programs, I get many people who say that the bats flying around their homes are much bigger than the NY bats I included in the program. “What could they be?,” I am often asked. Below, with the help of one of my many toy bats, I will solve the mystery of the giant bats flying around New York.

Bats are not Birds

This seems an all too obvious statement but it is one that needs to be looked into. Many people understand that bats are mammals, not birds. The fact that they are covered with fur and give birth to live babies makes this easy for people to accept. What people don’t think about though is how being a mammal affects their overall body plan to allow them to fly.

• Fur weighs more than feathers – Birds have many adaptations to help them “lessen their load” and make it easier to fly. Being mammals, bats have to compensate for the increased weight that fur creates.
• Mammal bones are solid – Here we see the mammals vs. birds weight issue again. Birds have hollow spaces in their bones which makes them lighter. Bats have the solid bones that all mammals possess, thereby making them heavier.

In order to compensate for the increased weight that comes with being a mammal and not a bird, bats bodies have adapted with proportionately large wings. Take the little brown bat, for example: the body length of a little brown bat is approximately two inches long. In order for the LBBs to take flight and sustain it they have a wingspan measuring around eight inches. That’s four times their body length!

“Red,” our toy red bat that is nearly life-like in size to a real red bat, demonstrates:

When at rest, “Red” is not exactly what you might consider large. But, when he spreads his wings to go hunting…

Suddenly, we are looking at a lot of bat. After hearing how small the bats in New York are and then suddenly having a surprise close encounter with a flying bat, it is easy to understand why people think there are larger bats flying across the New York countryside.

What’s Your Wingspan?

If you would like to do a fun experiment you can figure how big your wingspan would have to be in order to get you off of the ground and soaring through the air. It’s easy:

• Get a tape measure and two buddies.
• With the tape measure, measure how tall you are.
• Now multiply your height by the number four – this is your wingspan.
• Have your buddies stretch the tape measure out behind you (horizontally) to get an idea of what a wingspan of that size would look like.

My gosh! You’re a monster! Of course you aren’t really a monster, you’re just you. And the bats aren’t really giant and scary, they are just amazing animals that share our world and have developed an ability that no other mammal shares – flight.