Et tu, batty one
Noting her stats, major league teams considered sending out scouts, but she wasn’t free range.(USPD)
Snarls of “I’ma gonna take a bat to you” were met with “Oh? Would that be a Mexican free-tailed bat or a Big Brown?”
Snickers heard from the hovering crowd. Wit more of a hit than the dumb ox’s fist. (Apologies to hard-working oxen everywhere.)
“Bats have no bankers and they do not drink and they cannot be arrested and pay not tax, in general, bats have it made.” (John Berryman, American poet)
Well, not really.
Right off the bat, there’s the obvious scorn and superstition: “Bats in the belfry, “Blind as a bat” or “Like a bat out of Hell”.
Recently a woman in the trendy Midtown area experienced a rather hellish encounter with a bat.
Coming home late, she suddenly felt something like needles stabbing her wrist. Yep, not just an innocent – bumped into you – encounter.
“Houston bitten by rabid bat near downtown Houston” (Video/story)
Houston has a large, non-migrating bat colony under the Waugh Drive Bridge – something of a tourist attraction… (Texas is the battiest place in the country. I know, you already knew that. Fly here to really see why.)
Does this mean I won’t need sunscreen anymore?(USPD)
Bats are a perfect example of “a place for everything and everything in its’ place”.
People really shouldn’t be building bat houses in their backyards. No matter how bad the mosquitoes are. (“Don’t depend on bats to control dangerous mosquitoes.” Dragonflies are better mosquito hunters.) Bats know best. They rock house hunting.
Besides, you can hardly get people to clean up after their dogs. Little chance homeowners will scoop their bat’s guano. And they shouldn’t. It’s not healthy to breathe it. Then there’s also the CDC warnings about bats being the source of several serious viruses.
“I don’t know which is more batty: you oddly slumped over gazing at my neck or the fact that my head doesn’t look like it matches my body. Reel “Twilight Zone”(USPD)
Despite the fact that bats are hard-working eco employees, they are getting whacked by thoughtless wind turbines.
It’s serious. Just like bees, bats are critical for agriculture.
- Hawaii’s Hoary bats, the island’s only native mammal, were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1970. “The Hawaiian hoary bat, Ope’ape’a, is aumakua, a family god or deified ancestor, to some Native Hawaiian families” (from“Bat lives matter. Kahuku community attends hearings). Unfortunately, Hawaii’s five major wind turbine farms are killing bats about three times faster than predicted. Of the 187 expected/allowable bat kills (period ending 2030) 146 have already occurred. “Wind farms killing more bats than expected“ (Wind Energy News). “Endangered Bat at center of Hawaii wind farm proposal fight” (Hawaii News)
- Indiana bat colonies are at risk, too. “A deadly double punch: Together turbine and disease jeopardize endangered bats.” (Read the serious scientific study.)
Look at that little face. Of course their babies are called pups.(GFDL.LDC inc/Latorilla /Commons.wikimedia.org)
While batting around ideas, important to keep an eye on all the players.
What good is energy if the whole interrelated eco system collapses because a big hitter is out?
Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
“For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of the day, so is the reason in our soul to things which are by nature most evident by all
(Aristotle)
“I know they may look like flying rats, but beauty is as beauty does. Speak up for the pups – for all our pups.(USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org))
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Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge 
it’s sadly true… the windmills are like a guillotine for the little vampires ;o( the mama fears them like the plague, because her granny once said it bats land in her hairs, they will never leave you except you cut your hair off…
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Everyone used to worry about bats swooping into their hair and getting tangled. (Shiver – scary for both parties probably)
Thanks for the pup to pup comment
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The law of unintended consequences strikes again. Some months ago, at a master naturalist meeting, I learned something else that was interesting. There are many small colonies in the surrounding area that people are monitoriing (for numbers of bats, the appearance of that white-nose disease, and so on) that aren’t publicized, just so the public won’t show up and disturb the colonies. Protecting their habitat and leaving them to multiply in peace seems a better idea than bat houses. If people want a circus in the backyard, martin houses do much better.
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Good thing to keep the bat colonies secret like the nesting eagles. Quiet keeps them safe and happy – and there’s so many mean as well as stupid people out there. They hope the smaller colonies will survive the terrible white nose plague – and may escape the chopping of windmills in migratory paths. Hawaii is on a determined/ambitious/maybe not completely wise green energy path with a specific date for achievement (no matter what, apparently) – which is now causing problems to many. Bats’ only hope may be the indigenous religious designation?
Keeping the habitat is the best answer. Instead of “Oh, we’re sorry we gentrified/took over your little home on the ranch, so here’s an approved cramped factory made townhouse just for you – tiny homes are all the rage, right? We’ll put it where WE like it, ok?” HAHA no self righteous arrogance there, snort.
Thanks for flying by with a comment
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So how do you make residential dragonfly houses? 🙂 My pond does attract dragonflies and frogs eat mosquitoes too. This year with our wet weather mosquitoes have been prolific. I have twice rescued and released a bat that somehow got inside my house. I am not fearful but they don’t belong in the house. I never saw them. Fortunately I have cats who don’t miss anything. When three of them are staring at the same spot, I know it means trouble.
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That’s what I want to know. We always cheer when the dragonfly crowd arrives as they eat some bug that tries to kill several plants every spring.
Your cats are relocation agents. HAHA Bet that bat was more than ready to leave (did you give it a sunhat or sunglasses as well as a stern warning? HAHA)
SO ready for a little chill. What a hot and wet summer ( but despite what it feels like, we’ve had many many hotter ones…UGH in any case). At least the frogs are happy – a bumper crop this year. We keep having to convince Molly frogs are not windup toys for her to jump at…
Thanks for the splashy comment
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Then there’s the superstition that bats lay eggs in your hair. Uh, mammals, people.
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I guess it was the mistaken nesting fear that is the trouble – talk about really really old ideas that never faded. Thanks for rolling that comment out!
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I’ve always like bats, but most animals are covered with insects or carry some ungodly disease. That’s why I also love binoculars!
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Fleas. Enough reason to keep them flying, but elsewhere. It never gets cold enough long enough to kill fleas. UGH. At a distance, an amazing flight to watch. Thanks for swooping in to comment
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We just had to give Roxy a treatment last week! It’s freaking me out to have a four-legged bug bomb in the house.
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I can see it now: a bat flight …and tons of little fleas bailing in tiny parachutes. (Shiver – hey, Halloween’s coming…the giant outlet store has it’s banners up and costumes are in Costco already. Scary, indeed HAHA)
Hope Roxy doesn’t take wariness of humans around her as an insult 🙂
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The called-for response would have been, ‘Always knew you were completely batty.’
I cannot believe that the modern technology capable of producing these wind-farm turbines can’t come up with something to protect bats from them. Bats are indeed vital towards reducing insect pests that would flatten our crops. Wind farms are decimating them. It is questionable indeed whether the advantages towards slowing down of climate change outweigh the immediate slaughter of such vital creatures in their millions. Again, this weird phenomenon of denialism creeps in.
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Now that retort had bite – at one time quick thinking like that would have started a verbal battle – of witty remarks, not personal insults (which would have signaled to the crowd that one player had run out of fuel and intellect.)
We watched the wind turbine components as they came in the big port and trucked out. Massive things. Many of us always said the money to be made was in the wind turbines, not their use. Big money early investors grabbed their money, sold and got out. Good hearted people are often slow to backdown and say “this wasn’t the best idea”. Meanwhile major damage is being done and those darn turbines are a huge blight on the once magnificent land and deteriorating. What’s to be done with them when no longer wanted…hope there was a removal clause in that land lease….
Thanks for whirling by to add a comment
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The first thing I noticed about the photo was lack of seat belts.
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Did you notice her weirdly angled let arm? You’re right. If the open top didn’t get them, the no restraints in the car would.(Oh, it was all for the photo image, right? HAHA)
Thanks for flying by with an astute observation
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I went back to look for the arm. No wonder I missed it the first time!
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It just gets more and more weird…What’s to expect? Twilight Zone episode!
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I love bats. That may seem batty to many, but do the many sit on their stoop as dusk descends and watch the beautiful flying dance of the bats as they move throughout the trees as if moving through water? Bats are great mosquito eaters. Bats are spiritual (if you just give them a chance). Bats are intelligent, also, which is why they only fly at night (to stay away from all the goofballs out there during the day).
RE the wind turbine bat-murdering machines. We need to put some kind of radar on those wind turbines to keep the bats away. BATS MUST STAY!!
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If you are in an area as bats take flight in large numbers, you know how astounding it is. The bat cave exhibit in the zoo’s mammal house is a start to getting interested/educated about them, but real life sightings are unbelievable. (They do have to steam clean under the bridge here periodically for health concerns as a major hike and bike trail goes right under their roost there.)
In this area it’s wise to have screens on the windows not only for mosquitoes/gnats but to keep bats out. I guess the bat is chasing an insect or something when. they go in a house, but not good. Not long ago in a lovely “Livable Forest” subdivision, a teen died from rabies when one came in his open bedroom window. The bite is light and apparently some don’t realize they’ve been bitten. Wrong place, wrong time.
The Sierra Club and Audubon Society are both working to keep wind turbines out of migratory paths and to adjust rotation/speed of turbines. The older models are the most deadly to flyers ( and loudest). Your idea of some kind of signals that could be picked up by radar is an excellent one.
Thanks for turning in a comment here
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I once visited a cave in Texas where we found 12-foot high mounds of bat guano. Whoa. In our home in the SF bay area, a bat once got trapped inside the house just as we were all going to bed. We closed all the bedroom doors and opened the windows. By 6 the next morning, the bat was gone. And fortunately left no guano.
Lastly, at my children’s elementary school, a wildlife naturalist brought a bat for the students to see – taking away fear and replacing it with knowledge. Now all those kids are bat-lovers. xo
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Over the years we’ve had bats visiting, too. My biggest worry was convincing a serious hunter cat to not leap for them. (Great plan not to panic and allow the bat to leave!)
How nice your school still allow naturalists and visiting animals, parents have pretty well shut that down in some districts here with parents’concerns over severe allergies in some students and the insurance companies worried about lawsuits. Sad. As you say, how can they learn if they don’t experience close up? Puzzles me how people think kids can spend 12 years in windowless boxes yet develop an understanding/appreciation of science and nature. Computers, print, and video really don’t teach everything well.
We are lucky here to have so many caves and environments/habitats around to explore.
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In high school i debated. Senior year the resolution was on alternative energy sources. Our two primary ideas were geothermal (incorporating restoring the aquifers) and harnessing the wind (using, gulp, large windmills). Time sped by to now, when pumping water and fouled liquids into oil wells causes earthquakes (granted, not for renewable energy) and the terrible reality of wind turbine farms grows worse and more destructive – far more than they have been beneficial. Almost afraid to wonder what is going on with using volcanic magma as a renewable heat source…. One of my favorite things is the evening bat flight at Carlsbad Caverns. We have bats in NW MO, but three together is a large group. Wish we could borrow a Time-Turner (Harry Potter) to go back and stop the turbines during the initial design/development… and save all the innocent wild lives lost to them.
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Alternative energy sources have been charging up since WWII. A popular topic in school debate/college late night coffees. Progress has been so slow it is a bit discouraging – but maybe you’re right, if research is being done with magma that could really blow things up. Thanks for lighting up the comment aisle.
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We live in an old farmhouse. One night while my husband and son were out of town fishing. I heard a rustling in the bedroom. I tried to ignore it and go to sleep. Later I felt something in my hair. I swatted it out and turned on the light. Yes, it was a bat. I guess it was cold and trying to snuggle. I have no idea where the cat was.
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