Leslie Sturges

Leslie Sturges

  • Joined: April 9, 2019
  • Articles: 362
  • Comments: 5

Flappy Easter!

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 6th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big browns bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years.   Hi Everyone! Here is a nice and festive Batty Easter song. I hope you like it. Here comes Peter Battytail Flappin’ down the batty trail Flippity flappin’, Easter’s on its way Bringing’ every bat-girl and boy Baskets full of Easter joy Things to make your Easter bright and gay He’s got mothy beans for Tommy Colored wax worms for sister Sue There’s an orchid for your mommy And an Easter bonnet too Oh! here comes Peter Battytail Flappin’ down the batty trail Flippity flappity, happy Easter Day Here comes Peter Battytail Flappin’ down the batty trail Flippity flappin’, Easter’s on its way Try to do the things you should Maybe if you’re extra good He’ll bring lots of Easter bugs your way You’ll wake up on Easter mornin’ And you’ll know that he was there When you find those chocolate beetles That he’s hiding everywhere Oh! here comes Peter Battytail Flappin’ down the batty trail Flippity flappity, happy Easter Day Flippity flappity, happy Easter Day My apologies to Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins who wrote the original song. I hope everyone has a very Happy Easter!!!  

Spring for Bats

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 6th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big browns bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Hi Everyone! My bat friends have been enjoying the nice Spring weather this week. They have been moving around a lot. Right now, most of them are tucked up high, but one of them is hanging with her head out of the roost. She’s cute. (I’ve decided it must be a girl.) We have a picture of a new bat on the Facebook page! It is a male big bat. He is a “young, underweight, dehydrated bat.” Here is a picture of him trying to be fierce and scare off the scary human taking care of him. I hope he feels better soon.

The Artistry of Bats

In today’s post, both of our contributors are at play in the world of the imagination! Please enjoy Rachael and E’s interpretations of what bats might do and say if they operated in the human realm!  Hi! I hope everyone enjoyed Tinybat’s blog last week. I think he did a wonderful job, but I can’t figure out how he did it. He is so small, he must have flown from key to key. I wrote a poem about a bat suffering through this wacky weather we’ve been having. Waiting for Spring Every time I looked outside, it seemed the snow kept falling. I was so sad, my eyes they just kept bawling. It was too cold to go out and play. In the cave, I had to stay. I asked my mom, “How long until Spring?” She said to wait until I hear the birds sing. I’ve been so bored with nothing to do. The only bird I’ve heard is a winter owl’s “Hoo!” My mom said, “Be patient, little one.” I will, when the snow is done. Finally, I hear the bird song. Now, it won’t be long. My squeaky bat song has begun. Now I sing, “Spring has sprung!”

Spring is Here (finally!!)

Hello, blog followers! This is Leslie, the President of The Save Lucy Campaign. I don’t normally write blog posts, but I wanted to celebrate spring, since we made it through a Tuesday without snow and the peepers were singing in the sunshine yesterday. I’ll take that as a sign that spring really is here. In preparation for spring, we moved many of our overwintered bats into the flight cage. They need to re-acclimate to chilly nights, finding safe roosts, finding food, and flying! It’s probably more exciting for us than for them. They’re giving up snug flannel roost pouches, mealworms delivered in a dish, steady temperatures, and safety. This is also when health issues or old injuries may become apparent; these are things we wouldn’t have seen while the bats were torpid and in smaller indoor crates. Some may not regain flight ability or may start to fail as it becomes apparent they aren’t up to foraging on their own. We’ll evaluate the bats that can’t be released for addition to the education collection, but not all nonreleasable animals are happy in permanent captivity. For them, we have no choice but to end their suffering. It’s a very hard decision, but in the end it’s the kindest choice. But soon, most will be regaining their freedom, and we will watch them rocket into the dusky sky and return to the night, where they belong.

Tinybat’s First Blog

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 6th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big browns bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Though apparently, this week’s entry was written by a bat! Hi Everyone! This is Tinybat! Since I had so much fun in Washington, Rachael said that I could write the blog this Baturday. I hope I do a good job. It’s hard to type with wings. I went to the Film Festival. My friends, a hoary bat and a northern long-eared bat, and I were the star attractions. I got to meet a lot of people. I even got to meet the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. He was a very nice man who, I’m sure, thought I was adorable. My humans held me nice and snug in a glove and showed me off to all the people who were there. I behaved myself very well and got to eat lots and lots of mealworms. I even got a wax worm! I think they would go well in stew, if you want to try something new. While I was meeting all the people, I showed off a little bit. I even talked to everyone there, so that they could hear my lovely squeaky voice. Everyone was very impressed. Rachael was there too. She told me how cute I was being. I loved all the attention. After I got to meet all the people, they all watched some movies. I think they must have been about me. What else would they have been about? After the movies, some people came back to see me again. It was a lot of fun, […]

Spring for Wildlife!

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 6th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big browns bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years.  Hi Everyone! I hope everyone had a happy National Wildlife Week. It’s not too late to do something special for your wildlife, if you haven’t done anything to celebrate yet. I found a very interesting National Geographic article that I thought you all might want to read. Here is the link http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/03/bat-echo/mcgrath-text. I hope everyone likes it. It’s about how flowers have evolved to attract fruit bats. Make sure you click on the pictures because they are all awesome! Tinybat is looking forward to his trip to Washington, DC on Thursday. I’m looking forward to being part of his entourage. Maybe Tinybat will get to meet someone important. Hint:  Mr. Obama, you are more than welcome to attend. Tinybat would love to shake your hand and get your autograph. I wouldn’t mind it either. (You’re invited to join us in Washington too! Read more here—Ed.)

Bats ‘R Cute!

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 6th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big browns bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years.  One of our cute favorites, the vanishing little brown bat Hello! I found the best thing ever! It’s the best thing since sliced bread. It might even be better than sliced bread. It is a website on the 25 cutest bats. It was originally on the Save Lucy Facebook page. Since you all might not look at the Facebook page, I thought I’d put it here too. (This is the website http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/25-of-the-cutest-bat-species) I like all of them, but my favorites are the fruit bats and one of our celebrities, the big brown bat.  YAAAAAAY!!!!! My little friends made it. I think some of the fruit bats look almost like lemurs. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures.

It’s Cookie Time!

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 6th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big browns bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. This week’s post also features one of E Wright’s illustrations. Hello Everyone! It’s Girl Scout cookie time. I wonder what little Bat Scouts would sell.  Bat Scout cookies anyone? The annual Bat Scout Cookie Program gives bats the opportunity to earn money for their program activities and help their council offer special events. This year’s cookie choices are: Mango Munchies – Perfect for fruit bats.  These bite-sized mango cookies are dusted with powdered banana and 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.   (My apologies to the Girl Scouts and Little Brownie Bakers. ) (And with gratitude for the Girl Scouts of America’s efforts to promote science and technology education for our nation’s girls!—Ed.)

Tinybat goes to Washington

We are so thrilled to be invited to support the screening of Battle for Bats: Surviving White Nose Syndrome at DC’s Environmental Film Festival. We’re bringing bats to help show attendees what we’re losing. So come meet tiny representatives of the species we’re losing! Directed by David McGowan and produced by the USDA’s Forest Service in conjunction with the national WNS response team , the film is a sobering reminder of what’s happening to North American bats, but highlights the amazing amount of cooperation and effort that is going into finding a solution for an ongoing wildlife crisis. When: March 27, 2014. Meet bats at 6:30 pm; film at 7 pm, followed by a panel discussion on the National Response Plan to WNS Where: U.S. Department of the Interior, Yates Auditorium, 1849 C St., NW, (Metro: Farragut West) How much? The event is free, and no reservations are required For more details, click here If you can’t make it, please watch the film anyway!

Winter Bats

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 6th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big browns bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Hello Everyone.  There have been a lot of very small bats coming into rehabilitation.  The people here at Save Lucy have been taking very good care of them, but some of them have been badly injured.  Our most recent little guy came in on Valentine’s Day.  Since he was such a handsome fellow and he arrived on Valentine’s Day, he was named Rudy Valentino. Little Rudy is a male silver hair bat.  They usually weigh 9 grams and females usually weigh 12-14 grams.  Little Rudy only weighed 7 grams.  He has been eating well, but had an injured wing.  Hopefully he will heal and will be well enough to be released later.  If not, he is such a wonderful little guy that he’ll make a very good education bat for the Save Lucy Campaign.   Another bat that came in was a very small hoary bat.  He only weighed 16 grams.  He should have been 28-35 grams.  He also has a very small forearm.  It’s only about ¾ of the length of a normal hoary bat in the winter.   Over the summer, a little red bat came in.  They named her Dawn.  She was only as big as a 1 month old, but by that time, she should have been 6-8 weeks old and able to fly. The people at Save Lucy think that some bats might have taken advantage of the long, mild summer and had their pups late in the season.  Bat pups that are born late in the […]