has anyone out there ever gone on a moonlight paddle and had bats diving at you every 20 seconds or so? we had an absolutly perfect night for a moonlight paddle and the bats totally freaked us out. they would swoop right down over the deck of our kayaks and then pull up right infront of our face and tops of our heads…we paddled for 30 -40 minutes and said we couldn’t take any more of this . just wondered how anyone else deals with this? is there any explanation for this? evening temps were cool but they were feeding on bugs that are still out. But don’t they feed all summer also? i have heard that a lot of people love a moonlight paddle, but they never mentioned bats, what’s up?
Yeah
Had that happen a few times. I happen to think it’s really cool.
Just gotta have faith they’re not gonna hit you. I’m more nervous about hitting one with the paddle on the recovery stroke.
Alan
okay…guess you are braver than i
it freaked us out. normally when i’m in my yard i kinda enjoy seeing them dart around…but these were like every 20 seconds…i’m not blowing it out of proportion either. i think they thought is was halloween or something. Ha ha !!!
Yeah, can be freaky like Space Mountain
You just see the shadowy things flying at your head, they always look like they are going to hit but they never do. I wouldn’t spend time worrying about it though.
Sometimes in the pool at night the bats start dive bombing the pool, that’s fun too.
Carbon Dioxide
– Last Updated: Sep-07-09 5:16 PM EST –
...you exhale it, mosquitos are drawn to it, bats are drawn to the mosquitos...in addition, if anyone had a headlamp lit, the light attracts insects, and the bats feed on them....
We had a few bats on our moonlight trip on Friday Night....
didn’t use a headlamp until we docked
but i did use an led on the aft deck for safety reasons. still didn’t like the whole bat thing.
Bats are . . .
. . . just eatin’ the insects you attract, actually doin’ you a favor. If you listen closely you can hear 'em.
Used to carry small pebbles …
When I was bout 13 we would go canoeing at spot on Bear Lake in Utah near a cave, lots of bats would come out and we would toss the pebbles into the air, the bats think they are bugs and go after them, the smart bats or maybe ones with better hearing know it’s a joke … the dumb ones smack into the pebbles … I feels so cruel now I am a lot older … I’ve whumped a lot of stupid bats in my youth.
Yes, often
But not just with a full moon—I almost always encounter bats when I paddle at night.
It does freak me out. I always wear a hat at night. It does seem like the bats are intentionally inspecting me and my kayak. I don’t know whether it’s curiosity, or they’re warning me out of their territory. They don’t follow me far, so perhaps it is territorial.
They haven’t hit me yet but they come disconcertingly close.
I’ve been threatened in a similar way by large raptors, possibly juvenile bald eagles. That’s worse.
okay…it’s sounding like
bats are just part of the deal. hmmmmm. guess we will have to make up our minds which it’s going to be. does anyone know if their activity quiets down in certain months?
Bats…
– Last Updated: Sep-06-09 11:42 PM EST –
Try to move slowly & stay calm so you don't confuse their navigation.
They're helping you out; killing insects.
I'm a caver, and have been for 27 years.
I have accidentally disturbed bat colonies in the deep reaches of a few caves, and had several hundred of them (maybe more) flying so close to my face that I could feel the wind from their wings.
Never had one of them run into me(never), and was happy to have had the experience.
I have 3 bat houses in my yard to attract them; better bats than bugs!
Do NOT pick up bats that appear to be injured, or sick; leave them alone.
BOB
okay, but it doesn’t make me
feel much better. my instinct is to duck and sway…just don’t won’t dump over in the river at night. that’s all!
December throuh February
They stay inside and hang tough
No bugs
The water may be a bit hard that time of year though where you are .
When I lived in Ann Arbor there was a very cold winter and bats in the U of M Bell Tower started freezing and falling on people … kind of surreal.
I worry about bats getting …
… accidently stuck on a hook when casting a lure but it hasn’t happened yet .
They always go right at it when it’s travling through the air , but don’t grab it on purpose … I think they realize it’s alure by the time they get to it .
Sometimes they hit the line though .
One snatched a bug that was landing right off my hair this past spring while I was fishing into the dark .
Paddle with bats regularly
and you will find bats know exactly where they are and where they are going and while they may seem out of control they wont fly into you. Bats are fantastic acrobats.
i had one
heading for my lure one night. i had to jerk it back in order for the bat to miss it. i would have been freaked out if i had hooked it. hope that never happens.
Part of the fun
– Last Updated: Sep-07-09 4:02 PM EST –
Anything that eats several hundred mosquitos a night is OK in my book. I like seeing them fly around the boat at twilight -- they're amazing flyers. When you see how thin the wing bones are you wonder how they can sustain the stresses of maneuvering like that. It's a hand with a claw thumb and very long, thin fingers
If you read up on their sonar it's impressive -- frequency and pulse rate shifting depending on range and phase of flight. Some moths have evolved countermeasures. Neat stuff!
I helped raise an orphan big brown for someone doing bat research, including weaning it from milk to solid food(mealworms). It used to ride in my shirt pocket or under my collar. I had a screen house set up in my apartment living room for indoor exercise.
oh, yeah. they are eating…
…the mosquitoes that are attracted to you.
It’s disconcerting the first few times, but it’s kid of cool after that.
as long as you’re north of vampires
Relax TT,
As long as you’re up north of vampire territory…you won’t get attacked. Just make your stroke cadence a little slower…as not to clock one of the little critters in flight. In a canoe I’m in a larger signature. They check we humans out all the time.
$.01,
steved
Moved into an old house
and came home one night to see, no more like feel the presence of something else in the kitchen. It flew by and I actually knew there was something in the room and first thought was bird or a flashback from the one time in my life I dropped acid.
I then got a good look at it circling the kitchen table and decided it was a real bat so I grabbed a broom and after several attempts, swatted it to the floor. I put it in a box and thinking rabies and all the tales you hear had designs on his demise, but the next morning I decided no way I could kill it so I let it go. It walked off in a weird little feet/wing/feet crab crawl and found a dark place in a tree hollow.
I later found the attic was full of hundreds after several more found their way into the living quarters. Just before dawn they swarmed into the eves of the old house but the hundreds - eerie