Sierra Foothill Garden

“The more people know about bats
the more they’ll care about them.”

Sitting out tonight, while watering, I noticed a few mosquitoes and moths flying about in the half light. I hadn’t realized so much that bats could see the same insects as I, yet, here they were, swooping and darting around the big sky over the meadow. The mosquitoes are attracted to me and the bats zoom in and pluck them from the air.  Stay away!  I saw one moth get it right before my eyes. Pretty cool….

I turned my head to follow the bats’ flight and soon figured that to watch them, you need to hold your head still otherwise, you’ll tire your neck muscles looking this way and that. Just hold still and enjoy the ones that fly in and out of range.

“One bat, the size of your pinky finger, will eat 600 to 1,000 mosquitoes in one night,” says Burleigh Lockwood, a bat expert. “So if you don’t like mosquitoes, you better like bats.”

I walked with the Magster over to the bench on the other side of the garden where you can see the most sky and still with enough light to see, watched for awhile the little brown bats.  I assume they’re the furry cute ones, but will look them up to see which ones might be native in my area.

5 common bats in Madera County
Fringed myotis bat, Myotis thysanodes
Greater western mastiff bat, Eumops perotis californicus
Long-eared myotis bat, Myotis evotis
Long-legged myotis bat, Myotis volans
Pacific western big-eared bat, Corynorhinus townsendii townsendii

Bat Conservation International
Bats are among the most gentle, beneficial, and necessary animals on earth.
Learn all about them here.

Have kids?
We tell our kids to watch for the first bat they see, then we’ll light up the fire pit.Also here is a neat online puzzle for kids