#bat predator

[todaysbat]

Sound on to hear a kid being very excited about nature (no screaming), a dad being a good dad, and most importantly how quiet an owl flies.

Because you've probably heard about how an owl's feathers have evolved for silent flying, but it doesn't sink in until you "hear" an owl fly for yourself.

[todaysbat]

Street smarts: Cooper's hawk uses pedestrian crossing signal to ambush urban prey

A University of Tennessee researcher documented an immature Cooper's hawk using vehicle traffic and pedestrian signal patterns as concealmen

[todaysbat]

What do you think about Mothman?

Realistically, he's just an owl someone got a bad look at, and their brain turned it into an optical illusion.

Now that's not to dismiss anyone who claims to have seen Mothman. They saw something real for sure. It's just hard to, in the moment, tell that your brain and your eyes are conspiring against you. Unless you have someone or something looking at the same thing as you from a different perspective and seeing something different, all you've got is what you think you're seeing.

For context, I've seen stuff that I'd consider a UFO* but for the fact I eventually managed to identify it as an airplane that I was looking at from a weird angle or the light was reflecting off it weird that it messed with my vision.

I could go on about how UFO descriptions tend to match airplane technology or how that rash of "drone" sightings in New Jersey was fueled by people who didn't usually really look at the night sky where they live on a regular basis suddenly did and so they didn't really know what they were looking at and so started mistaking planes landing at the local airports and the literal stars for drones. But you asked about Mothman and I'll behave and stay on topic.

Mothman is real and he's a Barred Owl (Strix varia).

image description: an owl with white feathers with brown stripes or bars, giving it its common name of "barred owl", perched on a branch in winter or late fall. image source: Mdf, via wikipedia

*A UFO, or unidentified flying object, is by definition unidentified. The moment you use the term to say something is extraterrestrial or alien, you've identified it.

[todaysbat]

Bat: It's What's for Dinner

From crocodiles swimming through bat guano sludge to raccoons feasting in caves, here are weird stories of the predators that target bats.

Ever wondered what animals are bat predators? This article highlights several of them.

There's videos of bats being hunted in the article but you can safely scroll past without them playing or seeing anything. Also there are spiders and snakes.

[todaysbat]

What are you even supposed to do in that situation, if an owl flies in your house?

Call your local Animal Control or a wildlife rehabber who specializes in owls (or raptors in general). An obviously healthy animal like that one just needs a helping hand gettting out, but because of the fact that they are a wild animal and one with talons and a sharp beak meant for ripping through skin, it's best to let a trained expert handle them to keep them that way--and you from needing stitches.

If you don't have any pets or children who might take the opportunity to run wild through the neighborhood, you can also open a (somewhat) nearby door or window in the hopes that the owl will just fly itself out.

[todaysbat]

Some reading for anyone interested in learning more about the effort to deal with and control the spread of the brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis) in the areas of the Pacific where it is invasive:

(I've tried my best to list these links chronologically; please beware that some information maybe out of date)

TW for all links: Animal Death Mentioned (both in terms of the impact of invasive species and in controlling an invasive species), nothing graphic depicted

-- Report to the Congress: Control of the Brown Tree Snake (BTS)" submitted by The Office of the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Installations and Environment); published August 2008

-- USDA Rounds Up Brown Treesnakes by Airman 1st Class Mariah Haddenham 36th Wing Public Affairs, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam; published July 26, 2012

-- Two thousand mice dropped on Guam by parachute — to kill snakes by M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer for NBC News; published December 2, 2013

-- Protection and Preservation of Natural Resources Continue with the Eradication of Invasive Brown Tree Snakes by Rachel Landers for DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service); Published May 12, 2023

-- Military: Brown tree snake eradication program at Andersen showing success by the Guam Daily Post; Published May 18, 2023

-- Operational Activities: Brown Treesnake by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture); last updated when this post was written on March 14, 2024

[todaysbat]

Honduran white bat. Please and thank you!

image description: four white puffballs bats roosting in a "tent" made from a large green leaf image source: Leyo, via wikipedia

Honduran white bat (Ectophylla alba) Also known as the Caribbean White Tent-making bat, this species of bat is a specialist frugivore--which means that it specializes in eating one particular kind of fruit, in this case a specific kind of fig (Ficus colubrinae), though it will occasionally eat other species of fig. Along with the little white-shouldered bat, this species one of the two smallest species of frugivorous bats. Predators of this species include capuchin monkeys, Central American squirrell monkeys, and snakes.

[todaysbat]

Kitten Season Is Out of Control. Are Warmer Winters to Blame?

The summer “kitten season” is starting earlier and lasting longer, which is bad news for both animal shelters and wildlife