365 Urban Species. #114: Big Brown Bat

[urbpan]

Urban Species #114 Big brown bat Eptesicus fuscus

The most urban of all North American bats, the big brown bat roosts almost exclusively in man-made structures. A few colonies have been found in hollow trees or caves, but for the most part, these animals prefer attics, barns, and belfries. As they are among the most cold-tolerant of bats, they will roost in more open places, such as under bridges and in chimneys. They are the first bats seen awake in late winter, and the most commonly seen bats in our area. They feed on insects over still water and open areas, and are also frequently observed taking advantage of the bug-attracting properties of streetlights.

Perhaps the most famous urban bats are those that make up the colony of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiensis) in Austin. Someday I dearly wish to see the spectacle of more than a million bats (the largest urban colony in the world) stream out from underneath the Congress Avenue bridge.

Comments

[burning-brain.livejournal.com]

While editing one of the night scenes in the movie I'm working on, I noticed something peculiar flashing through the scene in the background. After slowing it down frame by frame, I discovered it was, in fact, a bat. Because of the angle, it appeared to be flying right out of an actress's mouth!

I wonder, could it have been a big brown?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

It's very likely. They do occur in California (my range map has all of the United States shaded in, as well as the southern third of Canada, and the northern half of Mexico). It could also have been a Mexican free-tailed bat, or a red bat, but the big brown is the most common of the three.

[phlogiston-5.livejournal.com]

I've had these guys get stuck in my house on several occasions. Because my house is so old, my attic is basically open for business, so its not that hard for them to find their way down to the first floor. On more than one occasion a poor confused bat has scared the shit out of my dad when he was going for a midnight snack. I find them incredibly cute, but of course the potential rabies factor interferes with actually handling them.

[bunrab.livejournal.com]

Their teeth really aren't that scary; leather or heavy cotton gardening gloves are sufficient to handle them. And they really aren't that all interested in biting humans anyway, as we in no way resemble their food. When I worked for the TX Dept of Insurance bats from the bat bridge (the one he mentions in the post) used to get into the building all the time and people would call me to remove them, and I never got bitten. I had my gentle bat-removal technique down to a fine art. All the 6-foot-plus guys would cower in the halls, terrified, while I'd stand on a chair and gently whisk the bat or bats into a wastebasket and then carry them over to an office with a balcony and shoo them off the balcony. Sheeeeee.

And their little faces were so cute!

[indefinitetheca.livejournal.com]

their sonar skills are a little less than people would assume. we had some and they died after running into the walls to many times, we had to get a smaller breed of bats with a more advanced sonar skills

[bunrab.livejournal.com]

Bats are so cool. (My opinion may be biased by having lived within sight of that bridge for years!)

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

Yay for bat post! :)

[(Anonymous)]

Nice post, and I'm totally impressed that you managed to capture them in flight.

But where did you find one during the day? Did you just happen across that little fellow? I've never seen one in the day; that's amazing.


gribley
http://kittlybenders.blogspot.com

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

cottonmanifesto came across that sleeping bat on her way to work. It was on a wall in the Longwood medical area.

[dragonwrites.livejournal.com]

that sleeping bat photo is spectacular. but if that is a "big" brown bat, are there little brown bats? and how tiny are they?

i think i've removed a couple of these babies from my friends' house. all the guys living there were blind or confined to a wheelchair, so it was up to me to coax the bat into a 32 oz. soda cup, slide a piece of cardboard over the opening, and release an extremely disoriented creature into the backyard. they always found their way back in, tho.

they have the most adorable faces. too back you can't see that in the picture.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I wondered if someone was going to ask that!

The little brown bat (Myotis lucifugis), listed by some sources as "little brown myotis" has about a ten inch wingspan, while the big brown bat has about a 12 inch wingspan. On average, the big brown bat is half again as heavy as the little brown (12-16g as opposed to 7-10g). According to Godin's Wild Mammals of New England, "big brown bats can be recognized by their large size and slow wing beats."
(not by me, they can't)

Little browns roost in attics and barns in summer, but in winter hibernate in caves and mines. Big browns are the only bats known to hibernate in buildings. (according to Godin, again) They range fairly far north (to southern Alaska) but are generally less cold tolerant than big browns. Little browns are more heat tolerant than big browns.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Also, more bats (including their adorable faces) can be seen here.

[plantgirl.livejournal.com]

By day the bat is cousin to the mouse.
He likes the attic of an aging house.

His fingers make a hat about his head.
His pulse beat is so slow we think him dead.

He loops in crazy figures half the night
Among the trees that face the corner light.

But when he brushes up against a screen
We are afraid of what our eyes have seen:

For something is amiss or out of place
when mice with wings can wear a human face.

"The Bat"
Theodore Roethke