bats

["Philip Veerman" <>]

I would say that after dusk, it is hard to see small bats, apart from sites lit up by big lights. My bit is of very little relevance but I thought it interesting to contrast. When I was in China last year I was really surprised at the abundance of bats around the city streets at night (it was end of summer, so warm weather). I went for a stroll along the Yangtze bank at Wuhan and there were many, of at least three species (I assumed, based on size and flight style). This thought was capped off with one flitting above the waiting passengers (including me) inside the airport departure lounge at Wuhan. Although that may have been just unusual. This is compared to the general difficulty of finding birds in China.

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Tidemann [
Sent: Thursday, 13 May 2010 11:29 AM
To: Andrew, David
Cc: Canberra Birds
Subject: Re: RE: [canberrabirds] bats [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

David
Its
not possible to point you to places where you can "twitch" insectivorous bats
without special equipment as they all tend to look very similar as they flit
about.  They can be differentiated in the hand by appearance - some with
significant difficulty - and most by echolocation calls.  The best I can
come up with is that you'll see plenty if you go to places such as Black 
Mountain Peninsula, where there are old eucalypts with hollows, which is where
they roost, and water nearby - and hence plenty of flying insects.  But now
is quite the wrong time of the year - below about 15oC these little mammals go
into torpor.  The best time to look is in summer when its hot and the
females are lactating - and so need to drink more than usual - so they can be
seen skimming water from the surface of ponds/dams, and twisting and turning as
they hunt down mosquitoes/moths nearby.  Further afield, dams surrounded by
forest are always good places, eg Moonlight Hollow pond in the Brindabellas, and
further west, in semi-arid areas, dams are always like magnets for
drinking/feeding insectivorous bats.  But even though you should see plenty
of bats at these places you won't know what they are unless you can catch them
or listen to their ultrasound - one major reason, apart from the fact that bats
are all nocturnal, for their lack of popularity compared to birds, that can be
seen, and often identified, with relative
ease.
regards
Chris