gone batty

Visiting with a neighbor recently on her porch, in the area I had just moved to, I casually mentioned that I hadn't seen any mosquitos yet. Her reply was, "Bats". (Should I take that personally I thought??)

She enlightened me to the fact that the bat population in this area is the reason we don't get devoured by mosquitos! Now, somewhere in the recesses of my mind, (and my mind has definitely been known to go out for recess..), I knew bats ate mosquitos, but I had no idea that meant over 1000 per day!! In fact, they eat an abundance of other insects also, which I didn't know. I can actually sit outside on my deck, night or day, without getting deluged with annoying bugs and their bites.

Swoop into the 'batcon.org' website! They have a wealth of info on these little winged exterminators!

Quick quote from Batcon.org = All mammals can contract rabies; however, even less than a half, of one percent of bats that do, normally bite only in self-defense and pose little threat to people who do not handle them.

I look forward every evening in our summer months, to the 'bat team' that arrives at dusk, with their silent flutter-dance as they snack on the tiny varmits who would normally cause us to buy a quart of Calamine.

So, three cheers for the natural 'bug men' !

Ok, bats are just for Halloween, right? They're those things that we would draw with black crayon along with witches and pumpkins. We got the impression (somewhere), they squeaked a lot, flew into people's hair and (my favorite...) sucked your blood. Boy, did I get a news flash.