This great horned owl fledgling was getting a drink at a remote desert waterhole when bats decided they were also thirsty. Not sure which bat species they are, but it’s fun to watch them swoop in and try to drink while the owlet watches.
Tag: bats
nectar feeding bats
It’s that special time of year in the Sonoran Desert when the Lesser Long-nosed bats return to the region. If you live where the bats forage and you leave hummingbird feeders up at night, you will know these bats have arrived by the evidence of empty feeders and sticky sugar water left on the ground in the morning. They are sloppy eaters. The Lesser Long-nosed bat is a nectarivore and feeds on the blooms of Saguaros, cardón cactus, agave and other night-blooming cacti.
I recently set up one of my motion-activated wildlife cameras to catch these endangered mammals in action. First, here’s a video of the bats feeding from a flower on a night blooming cactus in my yard:
And here is a video of them feeding from a hummingbird feeder I set in my yard just for the bats:
lesser long-nosed bats
It’s that time of year when the nectarivorous bats raid my hummingbird feeders each night. I love that the bats visit. All I have to do is make more sugar nectar each week since they’re pretty sloppy at the feeders. Unlike hummingbirds, bats can’t really hover, so they end up doing crazy acrobatics in order to capture just a taste of the sugar water:
If you happen to live in Tucson, there is a local bridge that is well-known for its bat colony. Every evening tens of people turn out to watch tens-of-thousands of bats emerge from the crevices in the bridge and fly off for a night of hunting:
My Earth 