…or maybe they didn’t go very far in the first place.
I’ve written quite a bit, recently, about our friends ‘the big brown bats.’ As you may recall, they 'moved in’ with us back in May (into an area above our garage at the end of the house). Late last month, we learned they had flown away.
Looking back, I wonder if it had just gotten too hot in the area where they were roosting - just outside our attic.
We contracted with a local professional wildlife control company to have the bats 'excluded’ (meaning they sealed off areas where the bats had chosen to roost and they also sealed up other areas which might be tempting as future roosting locations).
We thought that was the end of the story.
We have a bucket out at the front of our house that collects our air conditioning condensate. Essentially, there is a tube that carries this water outside the house near our front porch. We have put a bucket under this tube to collect the condensate and we use it to water a number of plants around our front yard.
The bucket collects as much as 5 gallons of water on a hot day. It’s perfect hydration for our assorted hollies, heliotropes and hydrangea. Lisa likes to have fresh tomatoes in the summer time and we also have a few big boy and better bush plants.
Turns out, it’s also a perfect watering hole for big brown bats.
When they were roosting above the garage, we also noted their calling card (pellets of guano) on the brick ledge that circles the perimeter of our home. They’d leave this guano in the area just above the water bucket. We’d hose it off (or brush it off) each morning.
When they left, we noticed it was gone. But yesterday morning when I went outside, I noticed they had left their calling cards once again. The big brown bats are back!
Or maybe they never really left. Our home has a thick wooded area at the back of the house and at the side. It’s rocky and hilly. I suppose it is quite possible there is a good (and cooler) roosting location in our woods. Or maybe they found another good house in our neighborhood where they can make a home.
In either case, there were bat pellets around our water bucket again yesterday.
What I can’t figure out is how they would use this water source. I was reading up on how bats drink water and like much of their other behavior, it’s fascinating. Essentially, they skim a body of water while in flight and scoop up a bit of water while they are flying and they keep going.
I can see them doing this over at the nearby lake. I can’t imagine how they’d do this with a small 5-gallon paint bucket.
But wherever they are roosting now, I figure they must be short on water to come back here. Still, I rather imagine them all sitting around; brainstorming about where to find a drink. Then, one big brown bat says to the rest, “Hey, I know where we can get a drink. Remember how Jeff used to keep that bucket of water out front at his house???”
Then, zoom, they’re off.
Somehow it works, though, because they were definitely here. They let me know yesterday that they had returned.
Or maybe they were letting me know they’re still close-by. Either way, I am happy to be providing a water source for them during this hot, dry summer. If we can provide water for a few big boys and better bushes, surely we can do the same for big brown bats.
Especially in exchange for the very beneficial mosquito control.
JG
(Source: Daily Mail)
Originally posted 7/8/2012
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