Saturday, July 14, 2012

Bat on a tree

There are bats roosting during the day in the forest near the estuary.  This is not a very good photo, as the bat was very dark and I had to enlarge the small section where the bat was located.  I did not get very close to the bat, for obvious reasons.

Bats are ugly, but very beneficial. They are the major pollinators of flowers that bloom at night, and of course they eat lots of insects.

We are showing photos of Bangkok, Thailand this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.
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10 comments:

  1. SharonJuly 14, 2012 at 6:53 AM

    I remember seeing these guys when I took the river raft trip. When David had his cabin in Yarnell, he had a "bat home"; a box like thing that he put high up on a tree. The idea was to attract bats so they would eat the bugs. I'm not sure he ever succeeded in luring any to the "home".

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  2. JudyJuly 14, 2012 at 7:50 AM

    They do look creepy, but they are an important part of the environment. I don't blame you for keeping your distance.

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  3. Valladolid Daily PhotoJuly 14, 2012 at 8:13 AM

    Good photo, the lens of your camera must be considerable.

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  4. glendaJuly 14, 2012 at 11:41 AM

    When I was there the bats coloration seemed to blend right in with the tree. These seem much darker.

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  5. Living In Williamsburg VirginiaJuly 14, 2012 at 11:42 AM

    Neat shot of what may be the most misunderstood and under appreciated critter on the planet.

    Darryl and Ruth :)

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  6. LoisJuly 14, 2012 at 1:40 PM

    Bats are such interesting creatures. We had them in the building where I worked and every once in awhile you would see one hanging from the hallway ceiling.

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  7. LowellJuly 14, 2012 at 5:53 PM

    In Seguin, Texas, in the evenings during the summer, the sky fills with bats as the swoop and soar over the fields. It can be quite disconcerting the first time you see it.

    I think your photo is excellent!

    Re your comment on Ocala DP: You're probably right. Bo-Kay's gonna get a lot more Google views than "Bouquet"...

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  8. JackJuly 14, 2012 at 5:58 PM

    I am not a fan of bats, either, though I do grudgingly acknowledge their beneficial uses. My daughter Susie in South Africa just bought a house that had been used as a hospital for injured bats. One of the terms of the purchase was their agreeing to leave the bat nests on the outside. Kind of cool, I thought.

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  9. UnknownJuly 15, 2012 at 6:33 AM

    I've seen a bunch of these daily bats in Tortuguero.

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  10. KateJuly 16, 2012 at 9:43 AM

    I understand that they are beneficial to the environment, but it doesn't make me like them any better than I do. I have a bat story which is too long to relate here, but it caused me to vacate a rental house in Mexico.

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