Gwynedd ([info]batwrangler) wrote,
@ 2004-07-19 20:14:00
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Entry tags:chiropterogues

A bat can make your day a little brighter
Today's been grey, damp, overcast, and chilly (not that I'm complaining: it's infinitely better than hazy, hot, and humid!), so this little bat was a real pick-me-up.


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[info]armoire_man
2004-07-20 08:25 am UTC (link)
Hey, Chiroptobabe -

How do you catch these things? I know you've got the net-on-the-handle, but do you have to chase them around, or knock them off their perches? Dangle a bug on a string?

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[info]batwrangler
2004-07-20 02:46 pm UTC (link)
It depends on the bat.

Our ceilings are between 12 and 15 feet high, and, with my newly-extended net, I've got about an 11 foot reach. So if the bat's flying around low enough, I can usually swoop it right out of the air, sometimes just by standing still until it comes around again (the bats often fly down to one end of the hall or office, bank when they near the wall, and fly back in the opposite direction) and sometimes after a bit of a sprint.

If it's perched on a wall, the act of placing the net over it usually causes it fly into the net in a short-sighted attempt to get away. If it doesn't go right into the net, drawing the net gently down the wall will dislodge the bat into the net without hurting it.

All three methods end up with the bat in the narrow end of the net, and to keep it there, I flip the net over onto itself, so that the netting is folded back over the frame and the "throat" of the net is closed.

I'm not sure I've described that well enough to make sense; Next time there's a bat I'll have to take a series of photos showing how I do it....

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[info]armoire_man
2004-07-20 03:20 pm UTC (link)
Nope, that was great. The photos would be nifty, but don't strain yourself unnescessarily!

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[info]batwrangler
2004-07-20 03:59 pm UTC (link)
I decided I didn't actually need to wait for another bat, though I will probably still take a sequence of pictures with the next one: http://batwrangler.net/batwrangling/

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