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Posted by Roger Hammer on 07:22:43 06/03/12
In Reply to: Florida Bonneted Bat? posted by Toe
Sometime in the 1990s I noticed a lot of larger-than-normal bats flying out of the canopies of royal palms that line my side street, so I alerted the folks at the Florida Bat Association over near Tampa. They showed up with all sorts of sophisticated equipment that amplified their calls and even printed sonograms on the computer. The computer then identified them as Northern yellow bats. They're considerably larger than evening bats and Mexican free-tailed bats commonly seen in South Florida. Our population of Northern yellow bats turned out to be the southernmost population ever found in Florida, and the first time they've been documented using royal palms. They mist-netted one and it was a lactating female, then my neighbor cut down a large Washingtonia palm several months ago and found one, so he called me and I took it, along with the baby bat clinging to her, and put them in an empty screech-owl nest hole. They flew out at dusk.
These bats are still here if anyone wants to come by anytime near dusk to see them. The good news is that your head has to be canted upward at the exact angle necessary to drink cold, high-quality ale. What were the chances??? "Honey, I'm going out to watch bats again tonight!!!"
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