Bats usually aren't on my radar...get it? However, the other night I caught glimpse of them devouring nectar from a kitchen window feeder. Leaving a chandelier on inside and grabbing my camera, the light was perfect for some attempts at a photo. I stayed in the house like a big chicken, so the photos are soft due to window glass.
Either way, a photo is worth a thousand words, so I'll let them speak for me.
Either way, a photo is worth a thousand words, so I'll let them speak for me.
When I shared these images on FaceBook, a friend (Kathy Cooper) suggested I look into a Marana Bat Study. Sadly, it would require me to wake before the birds 3 times a week and I'm not sure I want to participate. I'll have to sleep on it.
My guess is these bats are Lesser long-nosed (Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuenae) but I'm not sure. In the southwest, September's pollinator of the month award goes to the bats! They're migratory and spend their winters in Mexico, returning to Arizona as early as the second week in April. However, by fall they will arrive en masse. Pregnant females congregate at maternity roosts, give birth and raise their young throughout the summer. Males form separate, smaller colonies, making their own "Batman" caves, I suppose.
For more detailed information on bats visit here.
In part it reads..."An extremely important factor in bat pollination of cacti and agaves, is that it helps maintain healthy desert ecosystems. During late spring in the Sonoran Desert, the white flowers of Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) cacti bloom for just one evening to attract Lesser Long-nosed Bats (Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuena) and Mexican Long-tongued Bats (Choeronycteris mexicana) for pollination."
At first I thought, "Wow, they drink way too much nectar." I wanted to make a 'bat block' wrap for the feeders. But then I read, "In 1988 these bats were listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. Maternity roost disturbance and effects of habitat loss are the primary threats for these bats." Now, knowing their survival in in peril, I'll have to leave some juice for my newest little blind babies.
My heart aches for wildlife and the human conditions we inflict on them, so any part I can play in helping critter out, I will.
If you know what species these bats are, feel free to leave a comment. I'd like to know.
My guess is these bats are Lesser long-nosed (Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuenae) but I'm not sure. In the southwest, September's pollinator of the month award goes to the bats! They're migratory and spend their winters in Mexico, returning to Arizona as early as the second week in April. However, by fall they will arrive en masse. Pregnant females congregate at maternity roosts, give birth and raise their young throughout the summer. Males form separate, smaller colonies, making their own "Batman" caves, I suppose.
For more detailed information on bats visit here.
In part it reads..."An extremely important factor in bat pollination of cacti and agaves, is that it helps maintain healthy desert ecosystems. During late spring in the Sonoran Desert, the white flowers of Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) cacti bloom for just one evening to attract Lesser Long-nosed Bats (Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuena) and Mexican Long-tongued Bats (Choeronycteris mexicana) for pollination."
At first I thought, "Wow, they drink way too much nectar." I wanted to make a 'bat block' wrap for the feeders. But then I read, "In 1988 these bats were listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. Maternity roost disturbance and effects of habitat loss are the primary threats for these bats." Now, knowing their survival in in peril, I'll have to leave some juice for my newest little blind babies.
My heart aches for wildlife and the human conditions we inflict on them, so any part I can play in helping critter out, I will.
If you know what species these bats are, feel free to leave a comment. I'd like to know.