Leslie Sturges

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I have some very sad news. I found a news story about White Nose Syndrome. In northeastern Minnesota, hundreds of bats were found dead at the entrance of a mine. Scientists tested the bats and found out that they died of WNS. This means that White Nose Syndrome is now in the state of Minnesota! Since WNS was discovered in New York, it has spread to 27 states and 5 Canadian provinces. It has killed nearly 6 million bats [a very conservative estimate–ed.]. There are 7 species of bats in Minnesota. Four of them hibernate during the winter, so they are at the greatest risk of getting WNS. Since the mortality rate is between 90 and 100%, this is very bad news for the bats of Minnesota. Scientists think that the mortality rate might be different from site to site and in different species. Hopefully the Minnesota bats will have better luck than bats in other states. The bats here in Virginia have suffered miserably. If you want to read the story, you can find it here. And now for a general “public service announcement”…Daylight Savings Time begins tomorrow morning. Sadly, this means that we are losing an hour of sleep. So, this is your friendly reminder to spring ahead tonight so you won’t be late tomorrow.

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! Most of my week was good, but I had to take some standardized tests (the VA SOLs). That was not fun, but at least it’s over for now. There will be more in May. L The bats are all very happy that they do not have to take them. I’m a little bit jealous. I’m sure some of you have noticed that it is Girl Scout cookie season. That means, of course, that it is also Bat Scout cookie season! The season is almost over and the little Bat Scouts have been working really hard selling their cookies. They are the same cookie flavors as last year, which were… Mango Munchies – Perfect for fruit bats. These bite-sized mango cookies are dusted with powdered banana and are bursting with yummy mango flavor. Bat Wings – Shaped like a bat’s wing, these delicate-tasting, insect flavored cookies are delightfully simple and satisfying. Crunch-A-Dos – Crisp and crunchy beetle shell cookies with creamy worm filling. Caledonias – Crisp fruity cookie coated in nectar, sprinkled with toasted pollen, and striped with a dark blossomy coating. Hangalongs – Crispy cookies layered with mealworm butter and covered with a mothy coating. Thin Moths – Crispy cookies covered with a mothy coating. Rah Rah Rove Beetles – Hearty beetle shell cookies with plump rove beetle chunks. Don’t they sound tasty? I think most humans would love the Mango Munchies better than the others. The bats are all flapping […]

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! Freda did not. Apparently, she is still very sad that she doesn’t have a sponsor. She was really looking forward to one. Hopefully she’ll find herself one soon. She is a cute little bat, after all. In the meantime, Freda decided to write some more poetry. Sad Bat I’m a sad bat I might even have to wear a hat That would not be super But I would have to be a trooper It might fall And then I would bawl I don’t have a sponsor Were they too busy winning an Oscar? I wonder if they have a cat I am a sad bat   Hopefully she’ll cheer up soon. There really is nothing more pitiful looking than a sad little bat. She wrote another poem when she was feeling a little more optimistic. Super Bat Who will be my sponsor? This person will know I am not a monster They will know I am Super! Much, much more than a grouper I am strong like Superman I’m a girl, so I’m not Batman I am not a bird or a plane I fly as fast as a train I am much better than a cat I AM SUPER BAT!   Well, if that lovely poem doesn’t get her a sponsor, I don’t know what will. What do you all think?

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! Wasn’t Reggie’s video amazing? I can’t wait for the next one! In the meantime, I read a really cool article. Some of you probably already saw it. I saw it on Save Lucy’s Facebook page. It is about how two rare bats were roosting in an old building in Virginia Beach. The building was about to be turned into a wildlife rehabilitation center. The bats are Rafinesque big-eared bats! The Rafinesque big-eared bat is listed as endangered, so it was really lucky that the bats were found. And it was especially awesome that they were found by wildlife rehabilitators. The rehabilitators are going to let the bats stay where they are. Then they are going to figure out a way to let the bats be happy while they roost, but let the people have their building too. You can read the article here. Reading about these bats got me thinking…I had never heard of the Rafinesque big-eared bat. So, I decided to do a little research on them. They are adorable!!! You should see their ears! The really amazing thing is that these bats aren’t supposed to live in Virginia Beach! The map that I saw showing where these bats live showed that the bats are only found in three counties in southwestern Virginia. I think it’s awesome that they were found! I hope the people in Virginia Beach realize just how lucky they are.  

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Little Milo the Bat has already been featured on Save Lucy’s Facebook page. He will be the star of a video called “Om Nom Nom”. From the title, you can probably guess, this little guy saves the day by eating. Eating isn’t scary and he saves the day! I would like to thank Mrs. Sturges for working so hard on the stories. She did an amazing job. Thank you to Ms. Annie Chen for doing an awesome job as an animator. All your hard work made these videos really fun to watch. And thank you to Ms. Kim O’Keefe for the adorable character design. Ms. O’Keefe is the same amazing artist who draws the bats on all Save Lucy’s t-shirts. I really wish I could draw bats the way she does! I would also like to say a HUGE thank you to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It was their very generous grant that made these animations possible. So, thank you to them for all they do for all the critters of the country, especially our little batty friends. Stay tuned for the videos. I hope you all like them. After you watch them, please share them with your friends and family. We need to get the word out that bats aren’t scary and they need our help. After seeing the cute, fluffy animated bats, I’m sure everyone will love them! I hope you all have a good week!

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! First, I would like to thank all my readers in the Midwest who came through for me! You all went above and beyond the call of duty! You all are awesome!!! As you remember, I requested that some snow be sent my way. I was hoping for snow Tuesday night so that I could have a 5 day weekend. Well, that didn’t happen. Instead, we had a whole half inch of snow on Wednesday night. That half inch crippled the city, caused at least 1,000 accidents and closed schools on Thursday! And now we have JONAS!!! Fairfax County and all the other counties and cities in the area went ahead and closed schools ahead of the storm. That gave all us Fairfax kids a 1 day school week!!! So, thank you, thank you, thank you! With all the snow we are going to get with this storm, I might not see the inside of a school for at least another week! Maybe two!!! Now for the bat news…there is a new bat being cared for here at Save Lucy. Some of you might have already seen his picture on the Facebook page. His name is Gooey and he is a handsome little fellow. He was found in a military installation stuck to a glue board. For those of you who don’t know, glue boards are terrible pieces of cardboard that are coated with glue. They are supposed to trap mice and insects, but they trap anyone who is unfortunate […]

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great week. The bats here at Save Lucy and I are very excited about the long weekend. The bats have decided to spend their time sleeping and eating mealworms…I like the sleeping idea the best, how about you? I am especially happy because, while most people have a nice 3 day weekend, I will have a 4 day weekend. There is a teacher work day on Tuesday!!! Boy, am I excited! I’m going to sleep LATE!!! Ok, now for some bat news. Little Lemmy is doing surprisingly well. When she came to Save Lucy, she was in pretty bad shape. Now, she is getting stronger every day! She is doing so well that she was moved from her “hospital crate” to a “big girl crate”. I think that’s great news! I hope she continues to improve and will be able to be released when the weather gets better. Speaking of weather, it has been much colder lately. The poor little bats are getting confused because it was so nice and then got so cold so fast. Some of them might have picked some less than ideal places to roost. Some of those less than ideal places might be in a human’s nice warm garage or attic or something toasty like that. If you see a bat where it shouldn’t be, please don’t touch it. The best way to help a bat is to call a rehabilitator. Always remember, don’t touch the little critter, […]