The suspicion is that while it is a bit early for bats to be emerging, white
nosed syndrome, which has been killing bats by the tens of thousands these
past two years, leaves the bats starving and thus they are emerging early
looking for food. There is some hope that if they can find enough to eat
they can overcome the still unknown disease as this has been the case for
bats in a lab study. However it is still unknown if they will be able to
reproduce this year. For those who did not know, there is a real crisis
happening for eastern bats...first seen in NY caves last winter (06-07) when
90% of the hibernating bats in caves there died. This year, the as yet
unidentified white nosed syndrome...referring to a crusty white fungus on
infected bats noses, has been found in numerous VT caves as well as a few in
Mass. Generally, once it is in a cave most all of the bats die. And in
hibernating groups of thousands it is horrible to see piles of bodies...
-----Original Message-----
From: Upper Valley Birders [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Lorena Krenitsky
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 8:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [UVB] batty behavior
I'm no expert, but I can attest to late afternoon/evening bat flights
being normal behavior, although I've never observed them this early in
the year. That is more likely due to my tendency to be indoors in the
evening until the temperatures warm up some. =+)
We regularly visit friends in Eastman, and I recall on numerous
occasions watching the local bats flying around catching insects between
4pm and nightfall. Of course, that was always under the cover of trees
rather than out in the open.
> On Wed, 9 Apr 2008 21:52:37 -0400, "David L. Webb"
> <[log in to unmask]> said:
> > --- "Ann B. Flood" wrote:
> > For the past two nights, around the area where Grant Brook passes under
> > River
> > Road in Lyme, we have seen a bat fluttering around about 6 o'clock pm.
> > This
> > seems too early for usual bat bahavior to begin--at least normally.
> > Anyone know
> > if this is usual for this time of year?
> > --- end of quote ---
> >
> > I've sometimes seen bats emerge in the late afternoon, well before
dusk; in
> > particular, I've seen them near Storrs Pond around that time of day. In
> > any
> > case, in view of the alarming news about the widespread mortality in
> > local bat
> > populations from white nose syndrome, it's heartening to hear these
> > reports of
> > local sightings.
> >
> > David Webb
> > Hanover
> >
> > ****************************************************************
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> > ****************************************************************
> Lorena Krenitsky
>
Lorena Krenitsky
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