Thanks for all the good wishes, everyone! We’re doing ok. The trees are still standing, although they looked as if they were in a washing machine for the last few days. The pups are doing fine. They seem to prefer their leaf umbrellas to the covered areas to which we continue to bring them.  When they do fly, they get buffeted by the strong gusts and soon land, but they needed to learn about all this. The adults that shelter under leaves stay fluffed out, while the pups get wet and stay soaked, so it must be a learned behavior to shake off the rain and stay warm. We still have four more days of rain, so we’re not out of it yet, but at least the winds are easing off some. Rains are much worse to our southeast. Prayers for Houston.  We’re ready to help with any bat fallout from trees and bridges.

The leaf bats are hanging on with both feet as the wind buffets their roosts.

Here we go.

Moth Roll – In the Calm Before the Storm

Swoop Zone SLO-MO

Happy No-Sun-Day!  Don’t look at the sun! We love the moon!  The oak leaves left crescents on the flight cage pond liner below!

Shhhh!! Our sleepy red boy is enjoying an afternoon nap on his leaf hammock! Nothing looks more comfortable to a foliage roosting bat than a big green leaf to lay on!

Are these pups playing tag or is this a jam session?  Mexican free-tailed bats have been documented to jam each other’s echolocation signals when competition for food gets intense (see Aaron Corcoran’s research at http://sonarjamming.com) .  Do eastern red bats do the same in similarly competitive situations?  Here in the flight cage, there are not enough  moths for all the 30 plus flying rehab bats. Is this pup following his sibling to practice jamming his call and stealing the moth?  Or just playing?

Patrolling the cow peas.  Good little helper!

Action under the black light last night.  Moths attracted by the garden, moth pheromones, night-blooming plants, and the water all tend to congregate around the blacklight.
Our juvenile bats fly in wide loops tangent to the light and hope they time it right so they get the chance to practice their hunting skills.