Re: [Maine-birds] Bats...or not!

Very interesting, but on Islesford, Little Cranberry Island, which in the last few years has been absolutely so overrun by mosquitos that people took to walking around with two of those electric paddles there are virtually no mosquitoes.  There are still plenty in the marsh and in the tall grasses but there has definitely been a big die off and the bats are still missing. Cold icy spring seems to be the answer

Sent from Jim's iPhone

On Aug 30, 2015, at 10:05 PM, rob speirs <rspeirs1@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Folks,

Sitting on the float tonight watching the full moon rise on the eastern horizon I was struck by the total absence of the familiar squeaks of bats. 

We've always had bats at camp. At dusk we would see them in erratic flight, in front of the porch and over the float on the waterfront. Sometimes we would, to the dismay of many, find them fluttering about inside our camp. 

When we were young there were so many, we could sit quietly on the float with a long handled fishing net, and wait patiently for one of the many bats to come close. With a quick flip of the net, by the most articulate, we would capture a bat. 

They were put into a large glass jugs, with a long diagonal stick and leaves. The jugs were of the kind which we used to carry water from the spring, the wire handles on full jugs practically cutting off our young  fingers, or so it seemed. I'm confident some of you remember those days.The bats were released the next day, unharmed, after camp friends came to ooh and ahh over our treasures.

Tonight, not a squeak, not a sighting.. nothing. Up until 2 years ago we had a bat(s) roosting up under the roof of camp's back porch, their droppings a nuisance to sweep away every morning. As much as we were unhappy about the droppings, we were more unhappy about the absence of bats. White nose fungus is, apparently, the culprit. 

Let's hope this is cyclical and our mosquito eating friends recover. What has been your experience???

Rob 

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