rescue

She’s sustaining flight tonight

DSC_0981

Yes she has teeth, but she’s not snarling, just echolocating, to see in the dark and to find one of the juicy moths or beetles flying about the enclosure.  After parsing many call sequences from that evening, we analyzed this one call out of a call sequence we think is hers. Many of our local species, including yellows are not in standard call libraries, but this call is similar to others we have recorded from northern yellows. We hope to get a voucher call when she is released soon.  Voucher calls are recorded from a hand-released bat when no others are flying in the immediate vicinity.  They form the basis of call libraries and that is what we’ll use to develop our own.

Lasiurus intermedius28Feb2016

 

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Godzilla & Mothra

northern yellow and velifer

Northern yellow bats are awesome creatures.  At 28.3 grams, she is three times the weight of the velifer in the upper right of the photo.  Check out those beautiful broad wings.   We’re so lucky to have them in Austin!  Let’s help them out by not trimming the skirt of dead fronds under the green crown of our palm trees.  They have evolved to blend in perfectly with that habitat.  They feel so secure there, that they are slow to awaken from torpor, and often plummet to the ground when the dead fronds are trimmed.

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Valentine’s Day free-tail

Mexican free-tailed bat

It’s a Happy Valentine’s Day for this little male Mexican free-tailed bat!   He came to us from our friends at Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation in Kendalia, TX and he’s now flying free under the Congress Avenue Bridge, in plenty of time for mating season!

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Wild Austin Yellow

Wild Austin yellow       (click on link to left for video)

This northern yellow bat (Lasiurus intermedius) was blown out of an Austin palm tree in yesterday morning’s cold gusty winds. In the video, we see her using her feet to help control her “prey”, in this case, hand-fed mealworms. Although it’s hard to hear in the video, the yellow bats in our care have been the noisiest chewers imaginable.  We can hear them down the hall in another room as they demolish their dinner!

2-7-2016 4-11-39 PM

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