Category Baturday News

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade 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 this wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I read an article about a place in Shorewood, IL. They have a colony of big brown bats that they are taking care of. Every summer the bats come back and every summer the bats startle people when they wake up and start flying around. So the awesome people at the Hammel Woods nature preserve have decided to do something about it. They say that it’s the humans who disturb the bats’ daytime slumber with noise and smoke from picnic barbecues. To solve the problem, the preserve officials have built a cozy “condo” for the bats that live there. This condo is awesome. It is about 12 feet above the ground and looks like a giant birdhouse. It has several rows of little crevices for the bats to hang out in during the day. The condo is so big that it can hold up to 250 big brown bats! They hope that the bats will decide the new condo is a better home than their old shelter. It should keep them nice and toasty warm and comfy. If you want to read the article, you can see it here .

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade 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 this wild colony for years. Hi Everyone! I thought it would be nice to have a bonus blog this weekend. Yesterday was Bat Fest and it was a lot of fun. It was nice to see some of the people who read my blog. It was especially nice to meet TMC.  I just want to say hi to him and I loved his bat costume! Bat Fest was a great opportunity to learn about bats. Everyone learned about how awesome bats are and why we need them. I really loved seeing a video of a bat catching a moth. The video showed how a bat does a somersault in the air so it can wrap around the moth. We also got to meet Buzz for his public debut. His is a really cute big brown bat who weighs 20 grams. He did a really good job for his first public performance. Tinybat also made an appearance for the second talk and got to eat a lot of yummy mealworms. It was fun to go outside and look for bats with the bat detector. We were very lucky and found a few flying around the parking lot. They were happily catching bugs. I took some pictures of Bat Fest. I hope you like them. Thank you to everyone who came out to meet the bats and learn about them. I hope you all had fun. (We want to thank the staff and volunteers of Hidden Oaks Nature Center, the volunteers from other organizations, Keith and Connor from […]

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade 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 this wild colony for years. Hi Everyone! A lot is happening in the bat world and some of it is pretty funny. First, the serious stuff. There was a Bat Blitz last weekend in Annandale, VA. They went out to try to catch some bats. They only caught one before they had to stop because of the weather. The project lead was a bat biologist who has a blog that you can read here. He is an awesome photographer and I’m sure you’ll love his stuff! More news from last weekend is that little Freda flew for the very first time! She flew around for a little while and then had to go back inside because the weather was not cooperating again. Now for the funny stuff. I found this story on the internet Thursday. Thank you Yahoo News! Apparently a bat in Tennessee wants to be a news anchor. Too bad the humans on the set didn’t want to give up their jobs. I think you’ll like this. I laughed pretty hard. Last, but not least, don’t forget about Bat Fest Annandale tonight! I hope the bats and I will see some of you there. I’ll blog all about it.

Hi everyone! I hope you had a good week and are enjoying the new school year. While you are busy studying, please don’t forget about all the little bats that need our help and attention. Maybe you could write your first school paper on bats! While you’re at it, please don’t forget about Bat Fest Annandale next week. It’s going to be a lot of fun, so if you live near Annandale, please try to make it. For more information and to register for the 10th Annual Bat Fest Annandale, click here.

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade 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 this wild colony for years. Hi Everyone! I thought it was time to give the bats a turn at blogging again. This time little Freda gave it a try. I hope you like her poetry. Don’t worry all you other bats. I don’t think you’re ugly! A Free-Tailed Bat in a Brown Bat World All alone. So far from home. From the south, did I roam?  Where is my mommy? There are strangers among me.  Some are quite odd. With no wings to fly, on two feet they trod.  Others are almost like me. But they are brown, tailless, and compared to me, so ugly.  At least the food here is good. I can eat mealworms. Maybe more than I should.  I’m healthier now. And the humans made a vow.  Find my home they endeavor. Or take care of me forever.  Will I be an education bat? I never even dreamed of that!

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade 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 this wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I am soooo happy! I read an article about a power company in Middlebury, VT that has some very special guests. Green Mountain Power said that a new little brown bat colony has moved into its hydro facility and they are going to let them stay. The building is more than 100 years old! The Vermont state biologists think that the colony moved in because the building is close to Otter Creek and is nice and warm inside. I bet the little brown bats are all probably really cute and really happy right now. Since WNS first appeared in Vermont, the little brown bat population has decreased by 90% so I am very glad that Green Mountain Power is letting the colony stay. I am also happy because little Freda the Brazilian Free Tailed bat is doing well, and so are all the other bats that Save Lucy is caring for. They still haven’t found Freda’s colony, but she’s growing well and seems happy with her new human friends. Bat Fest Arlington was a success last week. There is a cute picture on the Save Lucy Facebook page that shows the hungry big browns and reds waiting for their dinner after Bat Fest. Apparently the poor little critters had to eat a little later than usual. Don’t forget about Bat Fest Annandale on September 13! (Register here;enter code 3084867901– Ed.)

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade 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 this wild colony for years. Hi Everyone! I would like to report that the Brazilian Free Tailed Bat is growing up. She has finally grown some fur. Sadly, they haven’t been able to find her colony. She won’t be able to be released if they can’t find her home. The juvenile bats are enjoying their flight cage time. They love flying laps and have even learned to dive into the mealworm cups to get yummy treats. Then they fly around while they are chewing on them. It looks like they are all flying well and might be able to be released in about a week! Other news of the week is that I moved. I am going to miss my bats. My mom promised that I’ll be able to go back to my old house and check on them sometimes. I hope there are some new bats for me to meet here at the new house. I’m looking forward to finding them. For those of you who are reading this from Northern Virginia, Bat Fest Arlington is Saturday, August 16 (today) and Bat Fest Annandale is Saturday, September 13. I hope some of you can make it.  

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown 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 just learned something really interesting. Did you know that young bats have to learn to drink while they are flying? The sad thing is that sometimes they miss and go into the water. Sometimes they try to drink water from swimming pools. I don’t really think that’s a good idea because they probably shouldn’t be drinking all the chlorine, but sometimes that’s all they can find. It’s really bad if they end up going into a swimming pool. If that happens, they usually can’t get out and they probably can’t swim very well. So if you work at a pool or own a pool yourself, you can help bats and contribute to science by being a part of the Bats and Pools Survey! If you find a wet bat please call Save Lucy or your closest bat rescue. (You can find local bat help with Bat World Sanctuary’s Locate a Rescuer page–Ed.)

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Hi everyone! First, I want to report on how the little Brazilian Free Tailed bat pup is doing.  She is doing very well and is nice and healthy. In fact she’s gained 3 grams since she got here. The state bat biologist is going to visit the site where she was found and use bat detectors to try to determine where her colony is. I wish I could help. I think it would be a lot of fun to discover a new colony. If the bat biologist is reading this, I’d be a huge help and work for free! Save Lucy’s other news is that all the tiny babies that came in this June are doing very well and are now big fuzzy and very cute juveniles, who are eating a lot. There are 19 big browns and 5 red bats that are getting ready for release into the flight cage! Hopefully they will be released into the wild in the next few weeks. My last bit of news is that I went to the Richmond zoo this week and saw fruit bats. They were awesome! They are so much bigger than the bats I’m used to seeing! Some of them had little pups hanging onto them. It was adorable!