Hi All:

Here's another critter for yall... I took this pic last week at Sach's Bridge, in Gettysburg, PA. My ghost hunting buddy was with me, and we went down there at sunset to get some pics. After a few flashes from our cams, we got some unexpected visitors. First there was one, then there was two, etc... We ended up having several bats playing dive-bomber with us. I think I stunned this one with a flash or something, because he decided to stick to the wall for a couple minutes, so I was able to snag a good pic. It was kinda funny, he landed right above some graffiti on the bridge wall. So, I've have affectionately named this bat, "Punkin." Take a looksee...

~Punkin~


Closeup of ~Punkin~


P.S. I have a lot of other pics to go through, including some paranormals, which I will share later.

Hugs,
Pate

Wow, he looks fairly big! Those are great pictures. I've never been able to see our bats up close like that, just flying around and they're itty, bitty guys, I think they live in the palm trees. Was he really reddish like he looks or is that reflection from the bridge paint? Thanks for posting this, he's really cool.

[ April 11, 2005, 08:14 PM: Message edited by: Renee ]

Cool pics, Pate! I think bats are wonderful to have around, especially now knowing they eat mosquitoes. Since we have West Nile Virus here, I bought a bat house few years back and placed it on the tree from the cemetery that’s leaning over my back yard. It actually makes me feel safe having bats around.

Wendy =)

Neat Pics Pate!
He does look pretty big. We have tiny ones around here too. Bats don't bother me either. We don't have too many, that I've seen....but every once in a while we'll see them flying around the tops of the trees. I wish they'd eat more of those mosquito's though, we get a ton of em! Ick!

Great pic! I've always wanted to see the bats at the Austin Bridge. We went there once but the little guys were a no show.

They are nifty little critters -- I'm with you, Trin, I wish they'd do more mosquito control!

Aww, Punkin! =) Thanks, Pate!

I was curious what kind he might be and thought I'd share the link: Types of Bats[/URL]

Wendy - I haven't heard of a bat house. Interesting! I looked that up, too. Bat Houses[/URL]

Kell

Hi Yall:

The bat's fur was colored somewhat like a fox, reddish brown. I was looking and found a site that lists types of bats by state. I think Punkin is one of these. PA Bats[/URL]

Which one do yall think he looks like?

Hugs,
Pate

Hmmmm. My guess would be either the little brown myotis[/URL] or the Evening Bat[/URL]. Both of those mention roosting in man mad structures.

Wendy, I read an article about people here putting up Bat Houses too because of the West Nile virus. The West Nile Virus hit the bird population really hard here, it almost annihilated the crows, we went from about 19,000 in our city to about 1,000. So I definately like having the bats around.

Hi Renee:

I was thinking Punkin was one of those too, his hair color looks a lot like the evening bat, and the bridge is over water, and they feed on water insects, hehe that's neat.

Hugs,
Pate

Pate...I agree with Renee, it's either one or the other but I’m leaning towards little brown bat.

This morning I got my son to take a couple of pictures from his digital camera to show you my bat house. I paid $29 for it three years ago. Instead of buying another one, I’m hoping my son could make me a bigger one this coming summer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/ewweygooey/bathouse2.jpg[/URL]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/ewweygooey/bathouse.jpg[/URL]

The pictures below are the two common bats that we have here in Ontario.



Here is a site you can check out West Nile Virus where it spread and what you could do about it in the States and in Canada. http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/research/west_nile/wnv_map.html[/URL]

Wendy =)

A little late getting to this. I had a look at the pics when you first posted but didn't get a chance to reply. Really cool pics Pate. Bats are such neat creatures, I love the fact that they eat some of the pestering bugs. I'm not that familiar with bats but do know you don't want one to bite. When we use to spend time out at the lake there were always bats lurking about, especially when we sat by the bonfire at night the little buggers would dive at us. More then a few spilt drinks from bodies scrambling to get out of the way. lol.

That's a really neat bathouse Spookette, I've never seen one before. Cool idea to give the bats a place to reside so they can help get rid of the skeeters. With west nile getting worse every year it seems bug spray just isn't enough anymore.

Cat =)