Bat Facts
Bats are highly beneficial to people, and the advantages of having them around far outweigh any problems you might have with them. As predators of night-flying insects (including mosquitoes!), bats play a role in preserving the natural balance of your property or neighborhood. Although swallows and other bird species consume large numbers of flying insects, they generally feed only in daylight. When night falls, bats take over: a nursing female little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) may consume her body weight in insects each night during the summer.
Contrary to some widely held views, bats are not blind and do not become entangled in peoples' hair. If a flying bat comes close to your head, it's probably because it is hunting insects that have been attracted by your body heat. Less than one bat in 20,000 has rabies, and no Washington bats feed on blood. More than 15 species of bats live in Washington, from the common little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) to the rare Townsend's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii). Head to tail, bats range in length from the 2.5-inch-long canyon bat (Parastrellus hesperus), to the 6-inch long hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus). The hoary bat has a body approximately the size of a house sparrow and a wingspan of 17 inches.
The species most often seen flying around human habitat include the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), Yuma myotis (Myotis yumanensis), big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus, Fig. 1), pallid bat (Antrozous pallidus), and California myotis (Myotis californicus).
Facts about Washington Bats Food and Feeding Behavior
Contrary to some widely held views, bats are not blind and do not become entangled in peoples' hair. If a flying bat comes close to your head, it's probably because it is hunting insects that have been attracted by your body heat. Less than one bat in 20,000 has rabies, and no Washington bats feed on blood. More than 15 species of bats live in Washington, from the common little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) to the rare Townsend's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii). Head to tail, bats range in length from the 2.5-inch-long canyon bat (Parastrellus hesperus), to the 6-inch long hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus). The hoary bat has a body approximately the size of a house sparrow and a wingspan of 17 inches.
The species most often seen flying around human habitat include the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), Yuma myotis (Myotis yumanensis), big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus, Fig. 1), pallid bat (Antrozous pallidus), and California myotis (Myotis californicus).
Facts about Washington Bats Food and Feeding Behavior
- Washington bat species eat vast quantities of night-flying insects, including moths, beetles, mosquitoes, termites, and flies.
- Most bats hunt in flight or hang from a perch and wait for a passing insect to fly or walk within range.
- The pallid bat captures crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, scorpions, and other prey on trees or on the ground.
- Bats locate flying insects primarily by using a radar system known as "echolocation." The bat emits high-pitched sound waves that bounce back to the bat when they strike a flying insect. A b at locates prey by interpreting the reflected sounds.
- Bats often capture insects when flying by scooping them into their tail or wing membranes, and then putting the insects into their mouth. This results in the erratic flight most people are familiar with when they observe bats feeding in the evening.
- Bats will fly 1/2 to 6 miles from their roost to a feeding site, using temporary roost sites there until returning to their main roost.
- To cope with winter conditions, most bats use a hibernation site, called a "hibernaculum." (See "")
- Hibernation sites include cavities in large trees, caves, mine shafts, tunnels, old wells, and attics.
- The hibernaculum protects the bats from predators, light, noise, and other disturbances. Temperatures in the hibernaculum must be cool enough to allow bats to maintain a low body temperature but not freeze; humidity must be high and constant enough to prevent bats from dehydrating.
- Bats hibernate alone or in groups, and enter hibernation sites in late September or October.
- Most Washington bats breed during late fall or winter at their hibernation site. Females store sperm until the following spring, when fertilization takes place after the females rouse from hibernation.
- The young, called "pups," are born and raised in nursery colonies occupied only by breeding females and their young.
This information was provided by The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Russell Link, And Michael Holmquist
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