February 29th 2008
Myotis lucifugus
Earlier this week, just before bed I remember noticing that the dishwasher was making a really odd noise but didn’t think much of it. Then last night I woke up in the middle of the night and could have sworn I heard something but immediately fell back asleep and forgot it. Until this afternoon when I most definitely heard something in the kitchen. I was trying to decide how to go about trapping a mouse when to my surprise, I found this:
A little brown bat. He wasn’t in the tupperware when I found him, he was actually trying to climb up the kitchen wall. I quickly helped him into the tupperware and set the lid on loosely so I could look at him. He went in easily but he let his displeasure be known by opening his mouth wide, baring his pointy, tiny teeth, and hissing. At least I think he hissed. He definitely made a sound although I don’t remember exactly what it sounded like. I do remember quite clearly that I found it rather humorous that he was hissing (or something) at me considering his state. For one thing, he was tiny. For another, he looked oddly wet:
I was worried that maybe he’d been stuck down in the sink or dishwasher but I quickly realized that made no sense because he was obviously still alive (hence the hissing). He quickly settled down and appeared to be napping so I grabbed my camera and took these shots. I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to a bat before and I thought what I could see of his wings and the little talon-like things at the joints were pretty cool.
Considering the vigorous hissing I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt so I took him outside and set the container down and took the lid off. He didn’t move. It was unseasonably warm and sunny today so I thought maybe he didn’t like all the light so I put him in a bit of shade under a bush but he still didn’t move. So I brought him back inside and got on the internet.
I found the website for the Wildlife Center of Missouri and gave them a call. The woman I talked to was extremely helpful. She said that if he wasn’t bleeding and didn’t have an obviously broken wing then he probably wasn’t injured. She said he was probably coming out of his hibernation* and would be somewhat disoriented and weak. She said he also wouldn’t want to fly until it was darker out and to put him in a slighly elevated place. She explained that bats need to take off from a bit of height because they swoop down before they start flapping. I asked her about the wetness and she said that they are very vigorous groomers and that was probably all it was. She said that if he still hadn’t left by the morning to call them back.
So, armed with my new bat knowledge, I returned to my little brown bat. By then I had him in a cardboard box with some loose plastic wrap over the top (with air holes of course). He was sleeping peacefully so I decided to let him nap a while until it got a bit darker outside. About an hour later I went to check on him and he’d moved around a bit. He was dried off and fluffing up nicely.
He was awake and seemed to know that dusk was approaching. I took him outside and took off the plastic wrap. He chilled out and let me take a few more pictures.
Yeah the guano is icky but if you can look past that, he’s really pretty darned cute in my opinion. The pointy ears, the little nose, the fluffy fur:
And the wings are just so fascinating. I settled his box into the top of a bush and sat down with a book on the porch. He really was a tiny thing, no more than 3 inches long.
About ten minutes later, with really no warning, I saw him swoop up, circle around a bit, then fly away. Fly away, little brown bat! Sounds like a children’s book or something, doesn’t it? I came inside and looked up Missouri bats. I’m pretty sure that my guy was Myotis lucifugus, which I was delighted to learn is commonly known as the “Little Brown Bat.” So that was my adventure this Friday afternoon!
*No, I really don’t want to think about the fact that he has likely been hibernating in our kitchen all winter long.
