Bats: Helpful Mammals

We have bats in our backyard. My daughter Amanda hates it when we are out in the evening and we start to hear the squeaking of the bats. Sometimes if we are out and the yard is dark, they will come very close to our heads as they swoop to eat the insects. Many times they are flying over the pool if we are taking a night swim and that is a little creepy.


On the local walking trail there is an old train tunnel and apparently there was a bat colony that wanted to roost there. (Note this photo is from last year during the warmer months...hence the short pants.)


A group of people got together and made a bat house for them and as far as I know, there has never been any bats in the structure. Amanda has to walk fast through the tunnel because she knows there is a chance of there being bats in there. I have yet to see the bats.

Last summer one of our cats actually caught a bat and tried to bring it into the house. It sounded like a mouse squeaking but when I got up close to shoo her away from the door, I realized it was a bat. She eventually let go of the bat and it flew away. I was amazed that she was able to catch a bat. I talked to our vet about it and she said that since the cats are vaccinated and the bat didn't bite the cat that we should be fine. I was pretty concerned but she has never captured another bat as far as I know. We bring our cats in for the night because we do have so many critters that could cause trouble...skunks, raccoons, bats, foxes, and who knows what else is out there at night.


We studied bats a few years ago when we were interested in learning about different kinds of flying creatures.

"Although the bat's wings are very different from those of the bird, yet it is a rapid and agile flier. It flies in the dusk and catches great numbers of mosquitoes and other troublesome insects, upon which it feeds."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 243

If you ever get a chance to watch a bat fly, you will be amazed at their flying ability.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Who is trying hard to catch up on our Outdoor Hour Challenges and Winter Wednesdays

Outdoor Hour Challenge #49 Mammals-Bats

In order to have some organization and flow to the Outdoor Hour Challenges and their focus on mammals, I found it necessary to schedule only a fraction of the stories in the Burgess Animal Book for Children. We are going to skip stories 15-20 this week and go right to story 21. Please share any of the skipped stories with your children when you have time in your schedule.

Here is a general video about bats. Please preview the video because parts of it may make your children a little squeamish. There is also a reference to evolution.

Mammals that fly and have echolocation!

Outdoor Hour Challenge #49 Bats

1. Read pages 241-245 in the Handbook of Nature Study. Although the lesson for bats states that it should not be given unless you can directly observe bats in person, I think this interesting creature deserves his own Outdoor Hour Challenge. Make sure to watch the video about bats and then proceed with the lesson suggestions. If you need additional information, use the resources at the end of this challenge.

Video on YouTube.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWUNFxhLRTU

2. Supplemental reading in The Burgess Animal Book for Children: Read Story 21. Use the illustration on page 128 to prompt a narration after reading the story about the Little Brown Bat.

3. This week during your 10-15 minutes of outdoor time, look for any mammals in your neighborhood or in a near-by park. Many of us will not find any mammals to observe or signs of mammals like scat or tracks. This should not discourage us from taking the time to be outdoors with our children.

Try some of the techniques that we have worked on in the past.

• Stand or sit quietly and see what you can hear (Challenge 2).
• Take a magnifying lens and look at an object up close (Challenge 8).
• Make a small square with yarn and see what you can find in to look at within that small square.(Challenge 9)
• Look at the sky and observe the clouds. (Challenge 39)

Use the methods that have worked in the past and see what you can come up with this week to share with your children.

4. After your walk, discuss any interesting things that you observed. Help your child to find words for their experience. Record their words on paper and have them sketch a simple drawing for their nature journal. Use some of the ideas that worked in the past like a rubbing of a leaf or feather. Take photos for your nature journals. Research and record what you learned about the bat this week from reading in the Handbook of Nature Study. One idea would be to sketch and record how a bat’s wings are different from a bird’s wings. You could discuss why a bat is considered a mammal and how it differs from other mammals that we have studied. Keep it simple but make some connections this week.

5. Share your blog entry on Mr. Linky. The challenges are all listed on the sidebar of my Handbook of Nature Study blog. Don’t forget to read other families’ entries for inspiration and encouragement.

Additional resources for this challenge:
More information on the Little Brown Bat

Brown Bat Coloring Page

Ozark Big Eared Bat coloring page

Lots of activities on bats at Enchanted Learning

Parts of a bat notebook page

Life cycle of the bat notebook page

Really interesting page on bats and pollination

Big Brown Bat information and coloring page

Bats in Australia
Jeff Corwin Video on bats in Australia:

Magic School Bus: Going Batty
Video!
(If talking about vampires is objectionable, you might want to preview this video.)

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Thanks to Tina at Jetihoja Academy for the special mammal challenge notebook page. You can find it along with all the other notebook pages here:
Outdoor Hour Challenge Notebooking pages
Thanks Tina!

Mammals in the Twilight

Last light just about sunset I was in the backyard puttering around. I love to go out at that time of the day and enjoy the cool air and the stillness. Walking back up to the house I realized that my friendly neighborhood skunk was standing right in front of me. He isn't very big, about the size of a large house cat. He has a very distinct tail that is actually quite lovely as long as it is pointing away from you. :)

He saw me coming and ran under the deck and I ran up the back stairs.

I called to my husband to tell him that the skunk was in the yard and asked if our cats were inside. One cat was in and one cat was out so I stepped back onto the deck to call Cocoa. She usually comes when I call her at bedtime but there was no sight of her.

My husband joined me on the deck and we stood for a minute looking out over the backyard waiting for the cat to decide to join us. As we stood there, we saw something amazing and new to our yard. We knew right away it was a fox! I think it was this kind: Red Fox.

"The red fox is so clever that it has been able, in many parts of our country, to maintain itself despite dogs and men."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 253

There is a whole section on red foxes in the HNS starting on page 251. I am going to read it today and see what I can learn about this creature. The skunk has a section in the Handbook starting on page 245.

We really do live in a fantastic spot for wildlife. We seem to have all sorts of creatures right under our noses and never realize it until we slow down and really look for them. I don't know if I really want a fox in my yard every night but last night I felt so blessed by his appearance.

We sat on the deck late into the evening discussing the events we had just experienced. The familiar skunk and the rare fox had touched both of us; the variety of life we have all around us was remarkable. Shortly after seeing the fox, the bats began circling around the yard having their evening meal.

Skunk, fox, bat, and then the curious cat all kept us company.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Mammals in Our Backyard

We have decided to work through our list of mammals that we have observed in our backyard and make journal entries for them in our nature journals. Often times we observe an animal and do not take the time to do the research or the entry into our journals. On these cold, rainy days of winter we will take the opportunity to read about each one in the Handbook of Nature Study if possible and then record our findings. Many of the animals we observe are not specifically covered in the HNS, so we will use the internet or our field guides to get the information.

Here is the list of animals we are going to study:
(also found as links on my sidebar)

Western grey squirrel
Striped skunk
Broad-footed mole
Long-tailed vole
House mouse
Norway rat
Mule deer
Common raccoon
Little brown bat

Covering one animal per week for the next term, I think that our goal is within reach. I will share our results as we go along.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom