More photos below. . .
Don't let the goblins—or the bats—get you!
Want to see more spooky stuff?
10/31/05: Happy Halloween!
10/31/05: All Hallow's Eve
11/8/05: Did the Goblins Get Them?
10/31/06: Boo!
10/30/07: Halloween Construction Zone
10/31/07: Scare Cat
10/31/09: Pumpkin Substitutes
8/21/05: All in a Night's Work
6/26/06: It's Been a While Since I Caught a Spiderweb
10/19/06: High Wire Act
1/6/07: Precious Farm Jewels
6/13/08: Cloudy Morning Sparkle
2/2/08: The Return of Chucky
© FarmgirlFare.com, the furry foodie farm blog where one of the neatest things about living here is knowing that we're surrounded by bats, including the little brown ones (which is what this one is), who can often be seen darting around overhead, chasing after dinner at dusk (the record number I've seen at once is 27!)—though we usually don't get many opportunities to observe these fascinatingly designed creatures up close.
I love your site, and that bat is adorably toothy!
ReplyDeleteliza
http://goodtogrow.wordpress.com
The bat is very cool, any idea what kind he is?
ReplyDeleteI love to check your pics out your farm looks beautiful.
Have a great and spooky night!
What long teeth you have ;-p... That is such a cutie!
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween!
Cheers,
Rosa
nice chompers. usually when I see a bat this close it's because my cat has sliced it's wing:(
ReplyDeleteI love bats ... what a wonderful bunch of pictures. I hope he (she) was okay and flew away safely!
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween!!
ooohhhhh so cute!!!! happy halloween!
ReplyDelete~*~
What a cute little guy. Fabulous pictures! How did you ever get him to hold still for so long? Happy Halloween to you and your critters!
ReplyDeleteI thought bats were nocturnal. How did you get such nice close-up of this nice bat?
ReplyDeletei luff leetle bats.
ReplyDeleteWow. I have never seen bat teeth up close before!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great set of photos! How do you do that animal enchantment thing so you can get that close?
ReplyDeleteI love bats - especially since I have a wetland very close to the back door. Happy to see your little fellow does not have a white nose!
ReplyDelete~ Aili in CT
Cute little eyes, but scary mouth! Great shots, congratulations.
ReplyDeletejust dropping by, nice blog you have here..
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute little bat! So adorable.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos!! How did you ever happen to get these pictures? I think they are quite amazing.
ReplyDeleteAwww, she's so stinkin' cute!! Did you see the bats on Conan last week?
ReplyDeleteAwesome! That's so great that you have bats around all the time. I love bats and rarely see them around here. There's a place we go fishing in the Sierras where we can sit on the crook of the river at sunset and watch them swirl around us over the water eating bugs. So effin cool.
ReplyDeleteHow lucky you are to have LBBs (little brown bats) still around! We are facing probable extinction of our LBBs up here, thanks to WNS (White-nose syndrome). I helped do a bat survey this summer, driving roads with a super-duper bat detector on the car that was hooked up to a computer that recorded every sound that came in. We got very few hits in some locations, and most that we got were hoary bats. LBBs were nearly non-existent across NYS - and five years ago (even three years ago) they would've been the most common, next to the big brown bats. It's very sad. SO - enjoy your LBB - you are lucky to have it!
ReplyDeleteOMG those are the best bats ever. I've seen them in caves but not, obviously, in the best photography light. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAMAZING photos! I am so jealous, bats are one of my favorite creatures, and I've had very limited luck attracting them to our farm. I've put up bat houses, provided water, and Lord knows we have no shortage of insects. We finally started seeing our first Little Brown Bats two summers ago, but they have yet to bring their friends or take up residence. Your photos are a treasure!
ReplyDeleteWhat fantastic bat photos!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, these shots are simply amazing!
ReplyDeleteWay cooler than the rats we had visit on Halloween. (Those are some serious chompers on that bat!)
ReplyDeleteHi Everybody,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the nice comments. I'm thrilled these bat pics are such a hit - and that so many of you think it's cute! I do, too - except for those teeth. When I was taking the pictures I kept thinking how nice it was that this bat wasn't a couple of feet long. : )
City Mouse,
It's a little brown bat. You can read more about them here. I thought this tidbit of information was fascinating:
If they do not catch any food, they will enter a torpor similar to hibernation that day, awakening at night to hunt again.
As for how I was able to take these pictures, for some reason this little bat was tucked up under the new building storm door you can see in this photo. When I opened the door one afternoon, it popped onto the ground.
It was very much alive and seemed fine, but I thought it might be better off somewhere higher off the ground. A few weeks earlier, one of the cats caught a bat (it wasn't a little brown one, but I don't know what kind it was) at dusk, and after I scared away the cat, I watched in fascination as the bat crawled across the front cement walkway over to the wooden gatepost on the right in this photo, climbed up the post, and then took flight.
Apparently it needed to be off the ground in order to fly, so I carefully transported this little brown bat (without touching it) over to the haybarn and set it down on a bale. Then of course I raced back to The Shack for my camera (because the few times it isn't slung around my neck the neatest photos always seem to present themselves!) and proceeded to click away.
I was also hoping the bat would be less visible to curious cats and dogs up there. A while later it was gone, I assume to somewhere safe. All in all, it was an amazing experience!
Ellen,
That's so sad about your LBB population - but I love how you did the bat survey! : )
MOBugs,
We really are fortunate to have so many bats here. Our nearest neighbors who live about four miles away rarely see them on their farm. We've never built any bat houses or anything, so they must have a great cave or other home around somewhere. It's encouraging that you at least have two bats. Hopefully they're busy making more! ; )
Lucky duck! We have little brown bats here on the Island and for about 2 months in the summer they take over a little spot in the barn for their maternity ward...they are the coolest mammal around and god knows how many bugs we would have if it wasn't for their voracious appetite!We'd probably get eaten alive by mosquitos! Great photos by the way...
ReplyDeletelove, love, love the bats!
ReplyDeletewe love to go out after dinner and watch them.
we've counted about 18 at once.
Great photos. How did you get so close. I really enjoy your recipes. Have tried a number of them and all were great.
ReplyDeleteI love bats - thanks so much for the photos, and for rescuing this one! Adorable.
ReplyDeleteThose are greate pictures. Most people living in a city wouldn't even know what a bat looks like anymore. We love to watch them flying around when sitting on our patio at nights. They do a good job eating mosquitos, something we have to deal with quite a bit here in the Houston area.
ReplyDelete