What a great mum!

This is an eastern red bat mum that has four nursing pups.  (Yes, it’s the bat you brought us Laurie, we found another pup tucked  under her wing!)  She flies very well, as do two of her pups, the other two are not yet volant, but they all find each other the next morning.  She is doing a great job raising these pups and we’re happy to help her get over that little glitch that found her grounded.

Eastern reds have four nipples.  Both nipples on her left side are visible in this photo and it’s apparent that the lower one is offset, to the outside, from the midline of her chest. That offset allows all four pups to fit symmetrically so that all can nurse without overlapping.  Overlapping would cause more jostling for position, attracting attention from predators, and so has been evolutionarily eliminated.

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26 West pup

This evening bat pup had been hanging low on a wall for a day and a half over in West Campus UT.  He was brought to us to make sure he’s OK and we marked his ear with some yellow eyeshadow .  He is only half the size of an adult, but foraging on his own and here we see him practicing his drinking skills.  He made around ten passes over the drinking pond, slowly calibrating his approach, getting closer and closer each time and eventually getting two or three gulps of water.
We’ll give him about a week of practice, then set him on his way in a more wooded area where he’ll find an evening bat roost in a hollow tree.  He found the other evening bats in our bat box easily enough, so we’re sure he’ll do the same in the wild.

What a cool little bat!  Thanks to Rachel Ellerd and Carin Peterson of UT Animal Make-Safe

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Late Last Night

Love the wing shape in this photo of an eastern red pup (17-79) brought to us by Adam Warren from Silver Dale in SW Austinbat rescue

Lots of action in the flight cage last night!austin bat rescue rehabilitation

This bat is curling up on a moth it just caught, rolling it into its tail membrane and kicking it to subdue and eat it.  All of this done while flying and scarcely missing a beat.

A closeup of that shot

Adam’s bat showing his chops

Pretty wing conformation on this tri-colored bat.

Here’s another bat curling up on a moth.  Lots of action under the blacklight!

This Barred Owl juvy was raised nearby and we’re trying to run him off.  Way easier said than done.

Finally got him to go, but grudgingly and he’ll probably be back before the night is through.  At least the pups will recognize a predator the next time they see one.  For many bat pups, the firs time they see an owl is the last time they see anything, so we’re glad ours get another chance.

In the morning, pups were scattered all over the place, this one right out in the open.  He is the first of Laurie’s pups to fly off on his own.  The mum flew off with the others still on her.  We found her and reunited them so they could snuggle through the day.

These pups are trying to look like just another dead leaf.

Here’s Laurie’s mum with her pups on her, but with Alvaro and Michelle trying to adopt her.  We got them all straightened out, reunited the family, fed and watered all for the day.  What a night!

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Morning after First Flight

We opened all the pup tents last night for the first time.  We played lifeguard for a while as the pups rolled out, some in flight and some on the ground!  We picked them up one after another to give them another chance to drop into flight.  All of them got it by the end of the night, but some were low on the flight cage walls in the morning.  We are so proud of them!

These two pups found their mum and here all are enjoying a nice breakfast

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Southern yellow

Our 100th intake of the year is this beautiful southern yellow pup!
We distinguish southerns by their mossy, wooly, olive colored fur.
Northerns are more “Baby Huey” like, with shorter, yellowish fur.

This pup has just started eating whole mealworms.
He’s also stretching his wings and doing pushups.

He’ll be flying soon!

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39 intakes 2 weeks!

We just took in our 103rd bat of the year, 39 of which came to us in the last 2 weeks.
June is always crazy around here and this year is no exception.
We’ve had bats of seven species this month; northern yellows, southern yellows, Seminoles, eastern reds, free-tails, velifers, and evening bats.

It’s crazy, exhausting, and exhilarating work.  But what a priviledge and an honor to be able to give these pups a second chance at life.

Reds 17-89

 

 

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Seminole skimmer swimmer

This pup was saved from a swimming pool skimmer by Jerry early Sunday morning.
He’s a juvenile Seminole bat, and was likely attempting to drink on his own for the first time when he crashed in the pool.  Once in the water he could not escape, even though Jerry had a ramp for trapped wildlife.  So please be like Jerry and have ramps, leave floaties in the water, and check those skimmers every morning. Give little beauties like Groot here a second chance!

https://www.amazon.com/Swimline-70200SL-FrogLog-Critter-Saving/dp/B004UHY2TY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497360924&sr=8-1&keywords=frog+log+critter+escape+ramp

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Dripping reds

This red bat family was found grounded in the middle of a side-street in Dripping Springs.  The young single-mum was a pup herself just last summer and she may have been struggling to feed and manage her young family.  She was emaciated, and was so lucky that Jacque spotted her before the grackles or bluejays did.  Nice save Jacque!  She and the pups have been rehydrated and their bellies filled and are now having a snooze at the top of the aviary.  She knows she and her pups are safe for now.

That night the mum flew and the pups watched her for a while, then the bigger pup joined her.  The little pup felt pretty lonesome and after a while took her very first flight.  Both pups negotiated all the other flying bats and landed successfully at the top of the cage.  By morning they had found mum and the whole family was snoozing together once it got light.
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Littlest pup after first flight!

Older pup

Pups have to watch out for the other flyers

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Waiting for mum to return

austin bat rehabilitation rescue

The next morning mum roosted in the sun, we had to shade them

austin bat rehabilitation rescue

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D-Day pup

This pup (D-Day) found himself on the wrong side of Congress Avenue Bridge on June 6th.  Dianne, on her rebirth day, was called by a worried tourist and went down and belly crawled under the railing to rescue him.  He probably crawled out  of his crevice looking for a mum that got picked off by a predator.  He was born a little early (average date of birth for free-tails is June 10th and he was likely born in late May) but lots of pups were 2-3 weeks early this year.  We’ll do our best for this little guy and hopefully release him back at the bridge once he’s graduated from ABR Flight School!

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