Bat House Forum

[Erik]

Not a bat house video, but still great to watch, I guess. In the video a common (or brown) long eared bat (Plecotus auritus) eating a moth (Noctua pronuba). The bat is staying at my place, after being hit by a motor rider. She has no visible injuries and she's flying pretty good. But compared to other bats I have taken care of, she is also very inactive. She doesn't groom herself at all. Signs that she's not feeling alright.
With the progress she is making I expect to release her in two, three days.



If the video is not working, you can also watch it here.

Long eared bats forage mainly on moths, which they catch in flight or pick from walls and leafs the moths are sitting on. They then fly to an eating-spot, where they eat the prey. To be able to fly with a moth in there mouth, they echo-locate with their nose. They have a whispering echolocation. That's why they have those big ears.
Eating spots are easy to recognise by the moth wing and bat droppings lying underneath. Do the North-American long eared bat-species show similar behaviour?

This is also the species I see in my bat house (see this earlier post).

greetings Erik

[Terry Lobdell]

Erik, A ranger at a state park near where live has reported seeing many moth wings below the pole lights in the parking lot. This site just recently had an exit count of 698 little brown bats so the wings most likely were from the bats. I have pictures of my boxes there. See Oil Creek State Park.

On warm humid nights here in Pennsylvania I usually have 2 - 5 little brown bats flying around my pole light. I can see them eating the moths. I have not noticed moth wings on the ground though. I think I am going to look for them more closely.

If I found some wings would I be able to have an entimologist identify the species of moth just from the wings? 

[Erik]

Terry, you said:

A ranger at a state park near where live has reported seeing many moth wings below the pole lights in the parking lot. This site just recently had an exit count of 698 little brown bats so the wings most likely were from the bats.

Could be. But the moth wings could be from spider webs as well. Maybe there are also lots of spider webs just underneath those lights. In barns I often fight moth wings and other insect wings on window-sills, right beneath spider webs.

Of course my bat knowledge is mainly based on European bats but I can't imagine a little brown bat flying far with a big moth in its mouth. Echolocation would be very difficult with a mouth full of moth. They do eat on the wing so I am sure moth wings fall down, but they would be scattered about a larger area and not concentrated on one place.

Long eared bats and other bats that hunt in dense habitat and catch big insects have one or more regularly used eating spots. Brown long eared bats often use porches, barns or garages as an eating spot where they can eat the insects in peace and safe from rain and predators. Perch hunters (bats hanging on one spot waiting for insects to pass by) also use similar eating spots.

A lot of moth species can be identified by there wings so maybe a specialised entomologist could help you out. It is always interesting to find out what bats are eating. As this article shows.

The long eared bat I am taking care of is much better now as these pictures show:





Erik

[cloudman75]

Video was very interesting Erik. I'm happy that the bat is doing better.

 

[Cheryl]

Oh, she's so sweet! That moth looks like a huge meal for such a little bat. How many of those moths does she eat in one day?

I loved the video - and your photos are gorgeous.

Did you release her near your own bat houses? I hope she fared well.

Cheryl

[Erik]

Hi Cheryl,

o yes, she was so sweet! It is indeed a hugh moth, but is a normal prey for  long eared bat. In the wild they catch the moths in flight, or grap them from a surface, but because of the size of the prey they can't eat it in flight. They take the prey to a feeding spot, often a porche, barn or garage, where they can safely eat it.

The evening I made this video she ate 4 moths and about 6 smaller insects (caddis flies). But a book I have about long eared bats says they eat between 7 and 13 moths each night! They must use a lot of energie whilst flying, otherwise they would become too heavy for flying!

I realeased her near the place where she was hit by a moter.  Not near the street of course but in a forest nearby. She belongs there and knows the area ,and probably has a day-roost in a tree or building nearby. If possible I always release bats in the area they were found. She flew away immediatly, right into the forest, and I think she made a full recovery.

Greetings,

Erik

 

[Joe Spencer]

Wonderful Erik!  I am not sure this video/post will make it into the new forum conversion if it happens so If you could save the photos and text to repost if necessary that would be great. 

Cheers,  Joe

[Cheryl]

I've bookmarked the link to the video, just in case. And I saved your two photos, Erik. :-)

I built a very modest little bat house recently (no residents yet that I know of), my avatar is the wood-burn I did, based off a tracing of a real bat photo I took in Sept, under a bridge in Tucson AZ -- a Mexican free-tail.

Once this forum is revamped, I'll post pictures of my tiny bat house. I've been looking at the rocket house design, planning my next project!! For the time being, here is a link to my post in another forum: http://www.eons.com/groups/topic/1178393-To-the-Bat-House-  also, a little video I made in Sept: The photo I traced for my wood burn is at the end of this clip: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gYoYUtoaCcI

~ Cheryl (aka LadyDawn142)

[Erik]

Great video Cheryl! I wish we had bridges with huge colonies like that in The Netherlands! And you made a nice bat house as well.  You call it small, but small bat houses can also be very successful as well. (as shown in my post about it) Updated link since it did not transfer after forum conversion ...Joe 12-27-08

http://www.bathouseforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=552&p=3102#p3102

greetings.

Erik