evening bat

Eeyore’s Birthday Party gave us a donation!

Eeyore is the grumpy donkey in the classic children’s tale Winnie-the-Poo.
He mopes around so much that his buddies throw him a birthday party to cheer him up.

Well, even bat workers can get a little mopey when things don’t go well for bats.  And bats have hard lives.
This year, the local non-profit organization The Friends of the Forest Foundation cheered up Austin Bat Refuge with a wonderful donation from the proceeds of Eeyore’s Birthday Party!
Thanks so much from us at ABR to this wonderful organization that has been giving back to the community for decades!

Wow! This brought a huge smile to all our faces!  Love you all!
Please join us all in cheering up Eeyore again next year on April 27, 2019 (always the last Saturday in April).
Next year’s event will be Eeyore’s 56th Birthday Party!
Please bookmark eeyores.org, put on a costume (or nothing at all!) and meet us there!

Thank You Lori Moore – and all the good people at FotFF for the very generous donation!

 

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Midnight

Every day we say Good Morning to the Evening Bats. “Hi! How are you?” Due to her bent arm Midnight may not be releasable, but she flies well enough to enjoy the aviary and can always hang with us. “Good Bat!”

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First pup of the year!


Our first pup of the year, an evening bat, snuggling under his proud mum.

We had a naming contest for Mother’s Da and got so many great suggestions; we loved them all!

Radar got the most votes, but we all have our personal favorites.

You’ll be seeing those other names soon as this year’s pups roll in!

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Your Big Night, Girls

These two girls were rescued from separate Houston apartment complexes back in June. They’ve been with us all summer and have just now recovered their strength.  The one on the left was not flying well just two weeks ago, but last week started sustaining flight and had the red “no-go” tag removed (actually red lip gloss on the ear). They’ll be so happy to be in the soft-release box; they can stay there until they find a great new home!

Austin bat presentations talks programs education outreach rescue rehabilitation evening bats

Austin bat presentations education talks programs outreach

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Great Night For a Release!

Look out world, The Class of 2017 is on the loose! Well, reds and evening bats, anyway.
Now that the heat of summer has passed and ponds and tanks are full, it’s a perfect time to get the pups out and let them establish territories before winter.
What fun to see the precocious pups bolt out immediately, followed by the mums, and watch as they circle back and coax out the others. After a half hour all were hunting the treetops, circling high above in the night sky!
Blessings little pups! We’ll miss you! Live long and make lots more baby bats!

Austin bat presentations outreach programs talks presentations

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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

austin bat rescue rehabilitation

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Pups of the Season

Left to right: Evening bat male, red bat female, Seminole bat male

These pups should all still be with their mums and they know it.  The bat milk replacer doesn’t taste the same and the mealworm guts are interesting, but not what they really want.  They would normally be getting a taste of insects at this age by nuzzling their mum’s mouth, and they seem to need the supplemental nutrition with the milk replacers we use. Once they eat some guts, they end up with the worm in their mouths as a pacifier and pretty much just zone out.  See video below:

austin bat atx bats

Sometimes they tilt their heads back like a raccoon eating a grape!

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The Joy of First Flight!

This evening bat pup was our first pup of the year, arriving as a one-week-old, found by Jordan Van Der Hayden in an ant bed, on 03May2017.
Three weeks later he is now flying confidently around the aviary, brimming with the joy of life!

Just a few days ago he was stretching his wings, doing pushups to gain strength, and we held him just far enough from his roosts to make him stretch to get back home.  Holding him further away the next night caused him to spread those wings and flutter the 8 inches back.  The next time we did it he surprised us by doubling back and flying a wobbly 55 feet to the opposite end of the cage!  But last night he flew beautifully and for quite a long time.
Next he has to learn to drink on the wing from our pools and catch moths under the blacklight and then he can start his new life as a wild and free bat!

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First pups of 2017

First pups of 2017!  Two weeks earlier than ever!
Evening bat mum munches a mealworm while her pup nuzzles her.
She sustained wing injuries that grounded her and they suffered ant bites before being rescued.
No small thing to rescue a ball of angry bats covered in ants!  You’re a hero Jordan!

The red light is used to minimize stress.

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Texas Night Sky Festival 2017

We had a blast at the Texas Night Sky Festival on Saturday March 18th.
We met so many people and introduced them all to Buffy, Gabe, Freida, and Nikita.
It was so much fun to see all those smiling faces.
Thanks Kyndal Irwin for spending the last day of SXSW with us out in Dripping Springs!
You were so great with all those kids!  We’re proud to know you!

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