Leslie Sturges

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade student 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. Her family cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Hi Everyone! I thought it was time to give the bats a turn at blogging again. This time little Freda gave it a try. I hope you like her poetry. Don’t worry all you other bats. I don’t think you’re ugly! A Free-Tailed Bat in a Brown Bat World All alone. So far from home. From the south, did I roam?  Where is my mommy? There are strangers among me.  Some are quite odd. With no wings to fly, on two feet they trod.  Others are almost like me. But they are brown, tailless, and compared to me, so ugly.  At least the food here is good. I can eat mealworms. Maybe more than I should.  I’m healthier now. And the humans made a vow.  Find my home they endeavor. Or take care of me forever.  Will I be an education bat? I never even dreamed of that!

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade student 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. Her family cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I am soooo happy! I read an article about a power company in Middlebury, VT that has some very special guests. Green Mountain Power said that a new little brown bat colony has moved into its hydro facility and they are going to let them stay. The building is more than 100 years old! The Vermont state biologists think that the colony moved in because the building is close to Otter Creek and is nice and warm inside. I bet the little brown bats are all probably really cute and really happy right now. Since WNS first appeared in Vermont, the little brown bat population has decreased by 90% so I am very glad that Green Mountain Power is letting the colony stay. I am also happy because little Freda the Brazilian Free Tailed bat is doing well, and so are all the other bats that Save Lucy is caring for. They still haven’t found Freda’s colony, but she’s growing well and seems happy with her new human friends. Bat Fest Arlington was a success last week. There is a cute picture on the Save Lucy Facebook page that shows the hungry big browns and reds waiting for their dinner after Bat Fest. Apparently the poor little critters had to eat a little later than usual. Don’t forget about Bat Fest Annandale on September 13! (Register here;enter code 3084867901– Ed.)

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade student 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. Her family cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Hi Everyone! I would like to report that the Brazilian Free Tailed Bat is growing up. She has finally grown some fur. Sadly, they haven’t been able to find her colony. She won’t be able to be released if they can’t find her home. The juvenile bats are enjoying their flight cage time. They love flying laps and have even learned to dive into the mealworm cups to get yummy treats. Then they fly around while they are chewing on them. It looks like they are all flying well and might be able to be released in about a week! Other news of the week is that I moved. I am going to miss my bats. My mom promised that I’ll be able to go back to my old house and check on them sometimes. I hope there are some new bats for me to meet here at the new house. I’m looking forward to finding them. For those of you who are reading this from Northern Virginia, Bat Fest Arlington is Saturday, August 16 (today) and Bat Fest Annandale is Saturday, September 13. I hope some of you can make it.  

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Hi everyone! I just learned something really interesting. Did you know that young bats have to learn to drink while they are flying? The sad thing is that sometimes they miss and go into the water. Sometimes they try to drink water from swimming pools. I don’t really think that’s a good idea because they probably shouldn’t be drinking all the chlorine, but sometimes that’s all they can find. It’s really bad if they end up going into a swimming pool. If that happens, they usually can’t get out and they probably can’t swim very well. So if you work at a pool or own a pool yourself, you can help bats and contribute to science by being a part of the Bats and Pools Survey! If you find a wet bat please call Save Lucy or your closest bat rescue. (You can find local bat help with Bat World Sanctuary’s Locate a Rescuer page–Ed.)

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Hi everyone! First, I want to report on how the little Brazilian Free Tailed bat pup is doing.  She is doing very well and is nice and healthy. In fact she’s gained 3 grams since she got here. The state bat biologist is going to visit the site where she was found and use bat detectors to try to determine where her colony is. I wish I could help. I think it would be a lot of fun to discover a new colony. If the bat biologist is reading this, I’d be a huge help and work for free! Save Lucy’s other news is that all the tiny babies that came in this June are doing very well and are now big fuzzy and very cute juveniles, who are eating a lot. There are 19 big browns and 5 red bats that are getting ready for release into the flight cage! Hopefully they will be released into the wild in the next few weeks. My last bit of news is that I went to the Richmond zoo this week and saw fruit bats. They were awesome! They are so much bigger than the bats I’m used to seeing! Some of them had little pups hanging onto them. It was adorable!

Hi everyone. I saw some pictures and thought they were adorable. I hope you like them, because I do. They are all so cute! Here they are. The second image is a digital painting by Art for Bats. The paintings are based on actual photos, and sales support bat rescue organizations.–Ed.  

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 7th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Hi Everyone! In honor of the World Cup, I thought it would be nice to research some bats from the 2 countries that are finalists. The first country is Germany. The German word for bat is fledermaus. I thought this little German bat was very cute. It’s a picture of a Greater Mouse-eared Bat roost. [photo unavailable] The second country is Argentina. The Spanish word for bat is murciélago. Since everyone is afraid of vampire bats, I thought it would be nice for everyone to see how cute they are. This is a White-winged Vampire Bat. Look at that cute little face! For another fun look at vampire bats check out this live vampire bat cam from the Organization for Bat Conservation.– via Common Vampire Bat | OBC.–Ed.

Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a 6th grade student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big browns bats that use the outside of her home for a winter roost. Her family has cheerfully hosted this wild colony for years. Hi everyone!  I hope you had a good Fourth-of-July! I wonder if the bats celebrate the Fourth. They might watch fireworks.  Wouldn’t it be cute if they set out a picnic of bugs and worms and watched the fireworks with us.  I wonder if they like them or if they are too loud and scary. The bats at Save Lucy had a good Independence Day. The little pups are doing well. A few little juvenile red bats arrived this week. They were very sad looking at first, but are doing better now. Happy Independence Day from Save Lucy!