Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a nice week. It’s been a long one for me. Five whole days of school can be exhausting after a couple of months off! Who is ready for the next vacation??? I was trying to find something interesting to write about this week and found a post on the Save Lucy Facebook page. I’m sure some of you have already seen it, but just in case, I thought it would be nice to mention it here… As you know, the rehabilitators at Save Lucy work very hard to help the bats recuperate from whatever illness or injury brought them here. After they have recuperated, it’s time for the bats to fly wild and free. Sometimes the bats have another idea. [The above video is of one of the ‘shed bats’ taking off for the night.–Ed.] Save Lucy released almost 30 bats a few weeks ago. Once they are released, most bats fly away happily and go on with their little batty lives. Occasionally, some of them don’t want to leave. That is exactly what happened with 2 of the bats that were recently released. These 2 bats leave every night, but every morning, they are back in the shed at Save Lucy. The rehabilitators aren’t sure exactly why the bats keep coming back. Sadly, the little bats don’t speak English, so they can’t tell their human friends what they’re thinking. They might be waiting for a friend who still hasn’t been released. They might […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a nice week. Since Friday was September 11th, I thought it would be nice to write about a bat that lives in New York. A lot of the bats they have there are the same kinds of bats we have here in Fairfax, VA. A couple of them are different. One of them is the Small-footed bat. I don’t think any of them live around here. It’s really cute! It’s New York’s smallest bat and weighs less than a nickel. The Small-footed bat has a very black face mask, just like a raccoon. It also has black wings. It has long, glossy fur and tiny little feet. During the summer, it roosts and raises its young in rocks, cliff faces and road cuts. It also likes to roost in concrete bridges. During the winter, it roosts in caves. I found this website that lists a few more NY bats in addition to the Small-footed bat. Check it out here. In other news, Bat Fest Annandale is this weekend and it’s sold out! It’s going to be a great time. Don’t worry if you aren’t able to make it. There will be more! I hope you all have a good week!
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a nice week. I read an interesting article today. I am sure some of you saw it because Save Lucy posted it on its Facebook page. We also discussed the topic at bat fest Arlington. The article is about wind turbines and bats and I have some great news! The wind turbine industry is going to turn off the turbines when there is low wind when the bats are migrating! Isn’t that awesome?! By turning the turbines off when there is low wind, tens of thousands of bats could be saved! When bats fly too close to the spinning turbine blades, they are killed. This is particularly bad to the migratory bats. They fly great distances during the spring and fall and are the bats most often found dead around the turbines. People have been trying to solve the problem for over a decade, but it’s an expensive problem to fix. It became a more important problem when the Northern long-eared bat was listed as “threatened” by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Even though the Northern long-eared bat isn’t migratory, they have been found dead around the turbines. Something had to be done! The industry has agreed to new guidelines that will have the turbines turned off during the fall migration period from mid-July through mid-October when there is low wind. Most of the bat deaths occur during that period of time. If you would like to read the article, you can read […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fun week! As I told everyone last week, Bat Fest Arlington was on Saturday (aka Baturday). It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed meeting some of you. Three of Save Lucy’s bats were there. It was nice to see Mooch again. He performed quite nicely for the crowd and squeaked a lot, which made everyone very happy. Little Freda wasn’t quite as happy to see her admirers. She did not want to eat or drink, but she did show off her lovely tail for her audience. There was also a really pretty red bat named Poppy. In addition to Save Lucy’s live bat talk, there was a Bat Art Gallery on display. I really enjoyed seeing all the pretty artwork. My favorite was the little felt Tinybat and Tinybat’s picture. I still miss him, so it’s always nice to see it. There were a lot of really pretty paintings of bats and some pottery bat bowls. There were a lot of batty activities outside and a batwalk, too. I hope to see some more of you at Bat Fest in Annandale next month. It’s on Saturday, September 12! You can register here I’d also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to stay away from wild animals, even if they are adorable and cute and fluffy. I saw a family of fox kits last night (I know…they weren’t bats, but they were still cute). They were crossing the street […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a great week and is enjoying the last few weeks of summer. I would like to dedicate this week’s blog to Mr. Lenny B. Robinson, aka The Route 29 Batman. For years, Mr. Robinson dressed up as Batman and drove around town in his custom Batmobile car. He visited sick children in local hospitals to cheer them up and offer them a little bit of distraction from being sick. Sadly, Mr. Robinson passed away last weekend. I know many children are very sad right now. I am very happy to announce that tonight (Baturday, August 22), there will be a Bat Festival in Arlington, VA. It is going to be at Gulf Branch Nature Center and Park at 3608 North Military Rd. Mrs. Sturges (Save Lucy’s very own Director and my personal friend and editor J) will be teaching about bats and introducing the audience to some of my favorite little furry friends. There are 4 talks that will be given from 6:30-9:30. Please join us for the fun filled batty adventure that best fits your age group. You can find more information here: http://parks.arlingtonva.us/events/bat-festival/. Hope to see you there! And for those of you whose summer is over and are going back to school on Monday…good luck! I hope you like your classes and don’t forget that bats make wonderful science fair subjects…think bat houses, the importance of bats, finding a cure for WNS, etc. And if you are the one who finds a […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a nice week and are enjoying the last few weeks of summer vacation. I know you all are going to think it’s too soon to start thinking about Halloween, but if you want to be crafty, you have to start thinking about it now. Halloween is only a couple months away and that means it’s time to start making bat decorations. Personally, I was thinking of decorating the entire house in a lovely bat theme. What I’d really like is a wreath on the door with a bunch of bats hanging in it. I’ve seen a lot of ghosty and pumpkiny wreaths, but no bats ones! So, it’s time to start making some bats. Then, I’ll have to put together a wreath. This is what I’ve found so far… I found this really cute crochet pattern online. It’s a free pattern and I think the bat is adorable. There are pictures of it in different colors to help you come up with ideas. I think it would be perfect hanging on a wreath on my front door. And maybe a few of them should be in my window. And maybe a few more around the house. The only problem is that I don’t know how to crochet. It’s quite a dilemma I’ve found myself in. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to successfully become an expert crocheter in time to make these. Maybe I should try something a little less ambitious, but I’d […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I’m still patiently waiting to hear from Ms. Ellen DeGeneres. I’m sure she’ll just love the pictures of little Freda! I hope she likes bats! I saw an article in The Washington Post newspaper this Monday. I’m sure a lot of you already saw it, but just in case you didn’t, I’ll tell you all about it. It was about a bat study they did in Fairfax County. I had high hopes for this study, but sadly, it was bad news in the end. METRO (a subway system in the DC area) wants to build a new train line. Before they can start building, they need to make sure there aren’t any endangered or threatened animals that will be bothered by the construction. They hired some bat scientists to look for northern long-eared bats. The scientists spent 7 nights looking for the bats. By the end of the week, they had found and released 61 bats, two squirrels and some really big moths. I was really hoping that at least 1 of those 61 bats was a northern long-eared bat, but none of them were. I know that people want the train line to go through, but I want the bats to still be around. I was sad to know that they didn’t find any. It’s really sad that we don’t have any more little brown bats in Fairfax County. I really hope we don’t lose the northern long-eared bats too! […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a nice week. Freda is still a little sad. And a sad little bat is a sad sight indeed. She is jealous of the little Australian bat that is being sponsored by Johnny Depp. She doesn’t understand why no one is sponsoring her. So, on her behalf, I have decided to try one more time. I think I have found the perfect prospective sponsor this time. Ellen DeGeneres! Ms. DeGeneres is a very funny comedian who loves animals. She already works with animal charities. Now, she just needs to know about us! Freda is hopeful that Ms. DeGeneres will just love her as soon as she sees her picture. In an attempt to make her even more attractive to a famous comedian, Freda decided she should write another poem. I hope she was trying to be a funny bat because if she was being serious…well, you’ll see… If I Had A Sponsor By Freda the Bat If I had a sponsor, She’d know I’m not a monster. She’d like bats. And maybe buy me hats! I’d share my mealworms. I’m sure she’d like their squirms. Mealworms are crunchy. They are fun to munchy. Yes, they are wormy. They are very squirmy. They are very tasty, Even though their insides are pasty. Do you think she’d like them? Or would she rather have an M & M? I hope she likes me! I’m much cuter than a bee!!!
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I am so happy! There is some kind of good news in WNS research. It’s too early to get too excited, but it looks good to me. There is a microbe called Candida albicans that might help fight against white-nose syndrome. Candida albicans lives in many species. It even lives in the intestines of humans. Anyway, scientists from the University of Illinois have discovered that a compound produced by C. albicans called tt-farnesol can inhibit the fungus that causes WNS. One of the scientists said that inoculating hibernating bats with the microbes might increase the bats’ chances of surviving. I think that’s awesome news! Another good piece of news in the fight against WNS is that a common bacterium might also help fight the disease. The bacterium is called Rhodococcus rhodochrous and it’s found in the soil all over North America. Scientists have also discovered that some of the drugs used to fight HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C might also help bats. With all these new discoveries, it’s hard not to get excited. I hope that at least one of these things actually really works. You can read about the studies here: http://news.discovery.com/animals/cave-microbe-may-aid-bats-in-white-nose-syndrome-fight-150722.htm and http://news.discovery.com/animals/common-bacterium-cures-bats-white-nose-syndrome-150515.htm
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years. Hi Everyone! First, I would like to thank those of you who tried your best to get a celebrity sponsor for little Freda. She really appreciates all your help. I must say, I’m disappointed. I was led to believe that there were only 6 degrees of separation between Kevin Bacon and everyone else on the planet. That means that there must be some way for us to get in touch with him! And if we can get in touch with him, we should be able to get in touch with all kinds of celebrities! Surely, one of them wants to help a little bat! So, little Freda is asking for everyone’s help again…Please try to figure out what your 6 degrees of separation are (I have yet to figure out mine, but I’m working on it). If just one of us succeeds, either Mr. Bacon, Mr. Affleck, or any of the other wonderful animal loving celebrities is sure to help us. Now, on to other pressing matters…tomorrow is National Ice Cream Day! The bats are very excited because they are positive they’ll get some yummy, bat appropriate ice cream. They have even taken the liberty of using some of Cold Stone Creamery’s flavor ideas to invent some batty flavors. Here is what they have so far: The Fly Who Loved Me – Ingredients: Mothy Ice Cream with Grub Cookies, Ground Mealworm Crust and Fly Paste Topping All Crunchin’ No Munchin’ – Ingredients: Mealworm Batter Ice Cream with Mosquito Dough, Whipped Moth […]