Bat... Again

Well, we had a nice surprise visit from a bat tonight. I was in the kitchen with my son and there was a quick shadow over by the basement door and after a few seconds, there it was, flitting quickly throughout the house. I had to crawl to get my shoes and flashlight so we could go outside to the garage in search of my large insect net (yes, I used to enjoy collecting insects, pre-child that is) but it wasn't there. Headed back inside, avoiding the very large orb spider and web just outside the back door and we were back to crawling. Luckily the net was in the laundry room. So this bat was much nicer than the one we had in summer 2004 because it actually landed somewhere (mini blinds). I was able to slowly maneuver the net over it and catch it without much trouble. Then Ds came over and took a good look, and I released it outside. Again I am amazed at how loud a captured bat can be, and how large they look when flying but are really the size of mice on the ground. They're so cute when they crawl too. Now Ds keeps telling the story over and over in an excited voice: "We CAUGHT it!" "Put the bat OUTSIDE!" "Flew AWAY!"

Earlier in the year we had a "bat in the belfry" at our church during Sunday Mass. It just started flying around really low after the readings. Most everybody was freaked but of course Dh and I just looked at each other and smiled, remembering the bat that was in the house when Ds was a couple months old. Unfortunately somebody used a collection basket to whack it down with all his might. Once it was no longer stunned and started wailing under the basket it was obvious that Mass was still being disrupted, so the men clumsily got it outside. I still wince when I remember it; felt so bad for the poor thing. I could have just gone home for the net.

The picture is actually of our first bat. I'll never forget waking up in the middle of the night thinking how did one of those big Saturniid moths get in here? Wait, it's not hitting the walls or the ceiling fan... uh oh...

These bats were all likely to be either Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus) or Little Brown Bats (Myotis lucifugus).