Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Bats in our belfry

Our oldest daughter came tearing out of the chicken coop the other day, where she was feeding and watering. "Mom, there's a BAT in the chicken coop!"

Sure enough, what was probably a Myotis lucifugus (Little Brown Bat) was clinging to the side wall of the coop.

Bat have been known carry rabies, so never capture a bat without gloves. This one squeaked bloody murder when I picked it up, but then it clung to the glove.

Our kids excitedly called to some neighbor children, so I showed it to everyone before trying to transfer it to the trunk of a tree.

Instead the bat lifted off and fluttered gracefully away, to the gasps of delight from the five kids who had collected to watch it.

2 comments:

  1. we had the teeniest bat i've ever seen that used to hang around on our front porch - it was no larger than a big moth - it would disappear every night and be sound asleep there by morning.

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  2. Any bat that you can catch, is probably rabid!

    It's been 3 years, none of you have died, but... that was a close call.

    Please be a lot more paranoid next time.

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