Northern yellow female pup on left and a Southern yellow male pup on the right.
When full grown, the Northern yellow bat will be twice the size of the Southern.
When they are pups, the size is the same, but the color and texture of the fur distinguishes them.
The Northerns are sleeker and more blonde-colored.  The Southerns are woolier and more olive-colored.

Catching prey is only half the battle! Bats still have to curl & kick to subdue their catch while flying. This eastern red male still needs to refine his technique!

One of our local species, the tri-colored bat is one of the smallest bats in North America.  They are amazingly agile in the air and this one has no trouble beating the larger bats to the flying insects in the aviary.

It took forever to find this guy tucked against the ridge pole against the bright sky.
Glad we found you pup!

Sweet, early (8:33 pm) emergence at Congress Avenue Bridge last night.
Come visit us at the Austin Bat Refuge table on Friday nights this summer!

If a bat’s hands are its wings (and they are!), then these pups are in good hands.
Love the way the mum embraces the pups in these photos.

We keep all the bat families ID’d with varying types of marks, so we can track the 30 juveniles we have flying. This way we can make sure all pups are reunited with their mums in the morning to nurse through the day.

This pup is from the red bat family with yellow on their ears.  Even though he flies well, he returns to his mum to nurse during the day.  His two youngest brothers still do not fly, but soon all will be developing their hunting and drinking skills.  Once they are all up to speed we’ll release each family together, at least that’s our preference.  Sometimes the oldest and the mums get antsy and they let us know they are not willing to wait on the youngsters.  We monitor them closely and release as they let us know they are ready.

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.

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

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 Austin

Lots of action in the flight cage last night!

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!