Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. I would like to dedicate this week’s blog to all of our military veterans out there and to all the people who are serving now. Thank you for all you do. And I hope you had a nice Veterans’ Day! Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! As you know, we elected a new president on Tuesday. I hope he likes bats! I did something really fun on Thursday. I went to the Kellogg’s Tour of Gymnastics Champions. It was a lot of fun to see all the gymnasts. It was also fun to see some of the athletes that we don’t get to see on TV. Not only were the regular gymnasts there, but the rhythmic and acrobatic gymnasts were too and the trampoline team was there. They were all amazing! And now, on to the bat news…apparently, bats can fly really, really fast. They can fly faster than scientists realized. I always knew that bats were amazing flyers, but apparently knowing something in your heart and scientifically proving it are two completely different things. So, scientists set up an experiment to find out exactly how fast bats could fly. The scientists went to the Frio Bat Cave in south-western Texas and used an airplane tracking device to track the distance that seven Brazilian free-tailed bats flew. All seven of the bats reached speeds of almost 100 km/h (62 mph). One bat even flew as fast as 160 km/h (99 mph)! […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I had a wonderful week because it was Halloween. And Halloween means candy! It is also the end of the grading period here in Fairfax County, so I got out of school 2 hours early yesterday and I have Monday and Tuesday off!!! That’s right, I have a 4 day weekend! 🙂 As you know, last week was Bat Week. The week ended with an event at the U.S. Botanic Gardens in Washington, DC. It was a lot of fun. They said that more than 3,000 people came through on Saturday! That was a lot of people for me and the bats to meet. Mrs. Sturges, the esteemed leader and president of Save Lucy, was there and she brought some bats with her. There was little Elvis the Silver-haired bat, Cappy the Big Brown bat and Red Bat the Eastern Red bat. They were all very well behaved and were rewarded with lots of mealworms. I would like to thank all the people who came to the event. I hope you all had fun and learned some interesting new batty facts. I hope you all enjoyed meeting my little bat friends. I think they enjoyed meeting all of you. And, now for my public service announcement: Don’t forget that it is Daylight Savings Time this weekend. I still don’t see the logic in the whole thing, but if you remember to turn your clocks back an hour […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I had an awesome one because it was Bat Week! It has been totally amazing to watch myself and all the other members of Bat Squad on BCI’s webcasts. It was also a lot of fun answering all your questions on Twitter. It was nice to talk with so many people who were interested in bats. Just in case you missed them, you can see all of the webcasts here: http://batweek.org/ . Today, I will be at the Botanic Gardens in DC. They are having an event called “Bat Bonanza” and it looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. People will be able to learn all sorts of cool facts about bats, see the Bat Squad videos, and even see some live bats! That’s right, Mrs. Sturges will be there with our furry little friends! The event will be from 10 AM to 5 PM in the Conservatory. If you need more information, you can find it here. I hope to see some of you there! I would also like to remind everyone to stay safe while you are out enjoying Halloween. It’s sure to be a lot of fun for humans and bats alike. Hope you all have an awesome week!
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I am very happy to announce that Bat Week starts tomorrow! 😀 Think batty thoughts! I am very excited because Bat Week is a perfect way to end Bat Appreciation Month. The bats at Save Lucy are all very happy too. They think they deserve extra mealworms to celebrate the special occasion. I think they’re right. In honor of Bat Week, there are a lot of events scheduled around the country. Actually, I think there are batty events scheduled all over the world! One of my favorite events will be the airing of the Bat Squad webcasts. The first will air Tuesday, October 25 at 1:00 and the last one will be Friday, October 28 at 1:00. All of the webcasts will be followed by a 15 minute Q&A on Twitter. These Q&A sessions will feature all the members of Bat Squad. I will be on Twitter on Friday to answer questions. Please watch these webcasts! I think it’ll be a lot of fun! My other absolute favorite event will be at the US Botanic Gardens in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 29 from 10:45-4:15. The Bat Squad webcasts will be shown throughout the day. There will also be Q&A sessions after each showing. But the best part of the day will be Mrs. Sturges and the bats! That’s right, Mrs. Sturges, my friend, mentor and president of Save Lucy, will be there too! With BATS!!! It’s […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! As you know, it is Bat Appreciation Month. One way people can celebrate this spectacular month is by doing things that would attract bats to their yards. I found an article that explains how people can do it! One way you can attract some bats to your house is by building a bat house. Sadly if you live in Northern Virginia, this might not work for you. The bats that live around here don’t seem to like houses that people hang up for them. They would much rather find their own little homes. If you live somewhere else, or just want to give putting out a bat house a try, then it should be at least 15 feet above the ground. This will help protect bats from predators on the ground. You might also want to contact your local bat experts. They might be able to help you decide on what type of house to put out for the bats that live in your area. Another way you can attract bats to your yard is by planting a garden. It is better for the environment if you use plants that are native to your area. A nice garden will attract yummy bugs that bats like to eat. If you plant night-blooming plants, nocturnal insects, such as moths, should visit your yard and you will probably get more bats. Your garden should also attract animals that come out […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I am very happy because I am in the middle of a 4 day weekend! I am going camping with my Girl Scout troop. I really hope we see some bats flying around. As promised, this week we will learn about the real Dracula. There really was a Dracula and he wasn’t a very nice person. His real name was Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. Wallachia is a place in what is now Romania. Vlad III’s father was inducted into the knightly order called the Order of the Dragon. He got a new last name, Dracul. Dracul means “dragon” in old Romanian. His son, Vlad III, was called Drăculea which means “son of Dracul”. When Vlad III was a child, his father took him and his brother to a meeting he was having with Sultan Murad II. The meeting was a trap to arrest them. The father was released, but the two boys had to stay as prisoners. Eventually they were freed and Vlad III returned to his home in Wallachia. Vlad III eventually ruled Wallachia three different times. During the time that he was ruler, he tortured and killed many people. He was killed in battle in 1476. In 1897, a man named Bram Stoker wrote the book Dracula. He based the character, Dracula, on the real Drăculea. Although the real Drăculea didn’t turn into a bat and fly around, he was still someone that most […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I would like to wish everyone a very happy Bat Appreciation Month! In celebration of this spectacular month, I decided to find out why bats are associated with October and Halloween. Apparently, it dates all the way back to when the ancient Celtic people celebrated their holiday of Samhain. They would gather around bonfires to ward off evil spirits. These bonfires would attract flying insects, which would attract bats. The bats were simply looking for a tasty treat, but because the people saw them flying around, they became associated with the holiday. When the Celtic holiday of Samhain evolved into Halloween, the bats became part of Halloween too. When the vampire bat was discovered in Central and South America in the 17th century, people began associating that bat with the holiday as well. Apparently, a little teeny, tiny bat that sucks blood was considered a “natural association for a dark holiday.” Of course, the teeny, tiny little creature grew tremendously with the stories of Dracula, but that vampire bat story is complete fiction. You can read about the history of bats and Halloween here. Next week, maybe we’ll compare the real Dracula story to the fiction one. I need to do some research first. In the meantime, I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful week! And I hope you all enjoy Bat Appreciation Month as much as I will! [The association of bats and Halloween is not […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I hope it was all batty! You may remember that I was told that my Baturday News post last week was too modest. I was trying something new. As you know, I am already fabulously famous. After all, I have been in many videos. I have yet to win any awards, though. So, this time, I was thinking of trying a different approach. I was thinking that, perhaps, if I waited a week to talk about Bat Squad and my starring role (there are a few stars), that maybe, perhaps, I would get an Oscar or an Emmy this time around. Maybe the people handing out awards think I was too demanding last time. I’m sure it will work. I’m absolutely certain that I’ll be nationally recognized this time around! No pressure people!!! Anyway, I am excited to be a part of Bat Squad. It is an amazing group of kids from around the country and I feel honored to be chosen to be a part of it. You can read all about the other kids and what they are doing to help bats here. They have done some really amazing work! I am a little jealous of Madison. She has gotten to hold bats! I think that would be amazing. It’s exciting to know that there are so many other kids out there who love bats. And it’s nice to know there are kids all around […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I had a great week because it started with Bat Fest Annandale. I had a lot of fun! It was great to see some of you all there. Some of the people there said they were going to start reading my blog, so welcome to all my new readers. I hope everyone who went to Bat Fest had a good time. Mrs. Sturges taught everyone about our local bats and white-nose syndrome. Then we all got to see some of Save Lucy’s resident bats. First, Poppy the red bat made an appearance. She didn’t stay out very long because she was a little fussy. She did get some juicy mealworms, so I think she was happy. Then we got to see Lacy the Hoary bat. She ate some juicy mealworms too. We also went outside to look for bats. We used bat detectors to listen for them. I had the privilege of getting to hold one of the detectors. We saw a couple of red bats flying around catching bugs. We also might have seen a tri-colored bat and a big brown flying around. It was exciting to see all of the bats, but I thought it was especially exciting to see the tri-colored one. Tri-colored bats are suffering horribly from WNS, so it was nice to see one flying around. I hope everyone has a nice week. [Editor’s note: Rachael is being far too modest–she is […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I survived the first week of school!!! I am in high school now. It has been a rough week. Gone are the leisurely days of sleeping past noon. I have to get up at 6:00 in the morning!!! And now I have homework!!! It’s inhumane!!! At least I got to see my friends. Ok, now for the serious stuff. I am sure you have all heard about the oil pipeline they are trying to build in North Dakota. The pipeline is being built just outside of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. The Native Americans are fighting to stop the construction of the pipeline. They say that the construction will disturb their ancient sacred sites. They also say that the construction of the pipeline violates treaties between the US government and the Sioux. While I have some definite opinions about this, I’m not sure this is the place to discuss it. Instead, I will focus on the environmental disaster that will eventually take place if the pipeline is allowed to be constructed in this location. In addition to being built through sacred land, the pipeline will go under the Missouri River. The river is the main source of drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux and many other people living in the area. It is also a source of drinking water for wildlife. If this pipeline cracks, the river will be contaminated with oil. This means that everyone […]
