An unusual encounter on the river
- This topic has 13 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Apr 18, 2012 at 1:49 am by
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A Bat in broad daylight. May have been rabid or maybe he was just smart and taking advantage of the abundant little black Stone Flies that were hatching during the warm springlike day today. Either way I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see if I cold track and operate the MF fast enough to get anything remotely in focus.
Thanks Again!
Judging from the accuracy of this guys attack on the little black Stoneflies I think he was healthy. A rabid Bat would be hard pressed to maneuver the way this one was. I’ve done some reading and though it isn’t normal, it isn’t all that uncommon to see them in daylight.
“Generally, if you are seeing bats flying during daylight or at night later than mid October it is a sign that the population is under severe pressure from malnutrition. Ideally they need to build up enough reserves during the summer months to sustain them through the winter. If their energy levels get too low, or the temperature rises too much, they will not be able to remain in torpor. “
Sunday was very unusually warm.
Mike,
The bat could have White Nose Syndromehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_nose_syndrome. What state do you live in? WNS is a serious wildlife epidemic and USFWS will want to know if this is in a previously undocumented area. The disease was first identified in bats flying during daylight in late winter.
Cool photos also.
I didn’t see any white on the bat anywhere and we were close enough to see it quite well. I’ve heard from two other people since I posted these in a few places that they are also seeing Bats out in this warmer weather.
Not the best image but you can see the Bats face.
In that picture the bat doesn’t show any physical signs of the disease. My dissertation is on the causative agent Geomyces destructans and I knew you were located somewhere in the south, thus my concern. Tenn and NC are the southern edge of the epidemic right now, but the disease is spreading at an unbelievable rate. Alabama and Texas have particularly large bat populations and if WNS reaches theses states it could have a major impact on agricultural efforts. Anyway, cool pics and hopefully the bat activity was just due to the odd weather.
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