Seen a Bat Lately?
July 29th, 2009
Thank you, Prospect Park Alliance volunteers and program coordinators, for making our dusk this Tuesday, July 28, a memorable one! First, we learn some trivia about invasive tree species, then we cool off by the Dog Beach, then we get served on a platter to the local (innumerable!) mosquito population, then we SEE BATS!!!
We learn that the bats we’re seeing are most likely of the little brown variety (Myotis lucifugus). Many a myth is dispelled. Bats are not blind. Bats see very well, day, or night. They don’t fly into your hair (unless on a quest for a mosquito hidden in your frizzy). They don’t drink your blood. They don’t turn into humanoid bloodthirsty creatures. They live up to 30 years! They can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes (or other insects) in an hour! Nursing female bats may eat up to 110% of their body weight… each night. Roughly 25% of all mammal species on our planet are… really!?… bats (there are nearly 1,200 species of bats out there – that fact in itself a testimony to the crucially important role these little creatures play in our ecosystem!)
WATCHING bats fly is fascinating – they seem to constantly change their mind as to direction and speed. But HEARING bats is simply magical! Thanks to the Prospect Park Alliance and their volunteer tour guide Paul Keim, we get to hear the world of bats. Paul holds his bat detector (device that converts bats’ echolocation ultrasound signals to frequencies us humans can hear!) up in the air, his machine producing clicking sounds whenever a bat is near.
Apparently each and every bat has its own, unique ultrasonic call – and Paul seems to be able to explain a host of nuances in sounds we hear these lovely mammals produce… by way of Paul’s bat detector.
Paul also has a Beanie Baby-like bat toy (which he says was given to him by his daughter the first time he started doing the bat tours) that he uses to explain to the youngest in our group of bat watchers how bats hang upside down… Paul’s Q&A with the youngest in the group also produces a memorable “We (humans) can’t hang upside down for long because if we did our heads would explode.”
Paul’s machine clicks, and makes buzzing sounds every time a bat catches an insect. We all cheer for the bats – and we hear quite a few buzzes.
“An Evening with the Bats,” Prospect Park, July 28
Enter at 9th Street and Prospect Park West, 718.965.8965; save the (next) date: August 4. Free for Prospect Park Alliance members.
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