Bat House Forum

[Terry Lobdell]

Tonight I was out kayaking a small lake on state game lands near where I live. Around dusk little browns (I'm assuming that's what they were) were swooping all around me feeding and drinking very low above water. This took place for a bout a half hour..........then I noticed what appeared to be big browns flying higher, maybe 20 to 40 feet above me feeding.........there were even more of them........As I was watching the big browns feed, I noticed the little browns were gone!

So interesting to observe this behavior............Right at sunset is my favorite time to kayak............I'm going to watch for this pattern in feeding behavior again.........has anyone else ever observed something like this before?

[LarryH]

I had seen something very similar to that in Columbia, South Carlonia, a couple years ago, Terry. We were walking along the river walk towards evening, and noticed some movement around an old dock and boat launch. We stopped to watch it, and noticed it was bats flying close to the water and under the dock to catch insects. Periodically they grab a drink of water from the river. We watched the exercise for about a half hour, until it started getting dark enough that the bugs went into hiding. The bats soon moved on in search of other food.

[Terry Lobdell]

Larry, what amazed me was that when the big browns came in, the little browns were suddenly gone.........I did not see the big browns drink.........they stayed higher above the water.......

[Dave Miller]

What I have observed with little browns (no big browns around) is when they first begin feeding over the water, they are right on the surface. As it gets darker they seem to move higher. I assume they are just following their prey?