29: bat houses
Dear Friend,
How have you been? I hope that you’ve been in a top-notch place, heart, mind, and body. Obviously, I wasn’t able to post a letter to you last week as I had proclaimed. I should not make those sorts of predictions knowing that a calendar is just a grid of ifs. I’m writing now with hopes of posting before tomorrow no matter where you are.
What have you been up to today? Perhaps you’ve watered your baby trees, taken your doggy for a walk, picked up your neighbor’s mail (because they asked you to) or perhaps you are now preparing to jump onto the freeway (in your car) and zip home from work!
I just finished gluing the first of two wings onto a fairly large bat piñata. It has been weighing heavily on my heart to make this piñata and place it into the hands of a very capable recipient, someone with a day of birth to celebrate in the upcoming days. I realize that this piñata will be destroyed in less than 5 minutes. Yes, that is the object of the game and then life goes on.
Whether the piñata-bat is cracked by several smacks or everyone gives up and just leaves it hanging in space, it is delightful to know – I’m nearly finished with the project.
Now, a real bat, I’d never smack to crack. I love those little friends so much, not just because they are adorable, but also because they are undeniably crucial to the health of Earth. Bats are not pests, even so, there are still human beings that go out of their way to exterminate them.
Frank and I recently stayed, dog/house sitting, in a forest home. The owner of the home had attached a bat house high up on one of the sheds on the property.
A link to a YouTube video explaining “What makes a good bat house?” follows this blog/letter.
As I walked past the shed during the heat of the day, I could hear the bats squeaking and scratching inside the bat house as they adjusted footing and placement inside the box. The vents on the house allow for air flow, temperature regulation, and also a point of entry and exit for the little cuties.
Just before dusk, the bats would make their exits, one by one, a rapid flitter barely visible. Frank set out a camera and captured the following few moments of the bats leaving their box one evening. (Click on the box below to view).
We weren’t able to record the bats returning in the mornings, but as we’d walk the dogs right before dawn, we could watch the bats, one by one, stick a landing onto their box-home and quickly scramble back up inside between the slats.
There can be over twenty different species of bats living in California’s Sierra Nevada Foothills where we were. The bats in Frank’s video look like ‘Big Brown Bats,’ but whoever they are, they are definitely insectivorous, insect eaters.
If you'd like to know more about what species of bats are found near you, I've included a link to Bat Conservation International at the end of this letter. BCI is a great place to learn about all things bats.
Bats are around all year in California but we’re more likely to see them in the warmer months because the days are longer and more insects are out for bats to hunt. As you probably know, bats eat mosquitos, moths, flies, bark-beetles (and other beetles), crickets, scorpions, grasshoppers, katydids… and each bat can eat hundreds of insects every night, that's between 40% to 100% of their body weight in bugs.
Pesticides, the destruction of caves and other holes and pits in the earth, and the removal of dead trees have all played a part in diminishing the quality of life for our heroes, the bats.
Just like bees and other little creatures, the health of bats equates to the health of the environment. It's simple science.
A biologist named Sharlene Santana works at the University of Washington. She's made a video that describes different species of bats, all of which are beneficial to our environment. (Link follows blog/letter).
Thank you for being here to read Tracks by the Post. We keep you in our Daily Thanksgivings, grateful for you; the goodness that you share each day continuously makes this world a better place!
Write to us if you’d like, we always enjoy hearing from you. Until our next Tracks,
Gently Be,
Leslie and Frank
PS: Here are some links to information about bats:
Bats can live to be 40 years old. Here is a YouTube video about Statler, a 33 Year Old Bat, on ‘the dodo.’ And a touching follow-up on Statler: Saying good-bye.
Find out more from Bat Conservation International What Bats Are Near You?
Pps: A bat piñata in progress with hopes of finishing before dusk. : )
