I'm Going Batty!!

Everything you ever wanted to know about bats!!   Personally, since getting one on my head when I was a kid, I'm not so very fond of them.  Never EVER lift a loose piece of wood hanging off the side of a house when you are on your horse.  As you can imagine, they have sharp claws with which they hang on to the side of rocks, or anything handy.  My hair was long and braided ... the perfect perch to get his bearings.  He finally flew off before I had a heart attack at age ten.

Around here, almost half of the bat species in Arizona live in Colossal Cave just a few miles away.  There are mostly two species here, the Townsend big-eared bat which live deep in the cave and Cave Miotis, a threatened species.  Most of the bats eat insects, but some go for the sweet stuff ... just like hummingbirds.

Thousands hibernate in the cave during the cooler winter months.  Colossal Cave is also the stopping off point for bats migrating south as well as a nursery.  Yeah .... bat babies.

Not my pictures, but this is a great example of what they look like.  They are so fast that my little critter cam can't catch this view.

I have to say I was pretty surprised when I saw THIS!  I did know that once the word got out, hundreds would come every night and drain the feeder completely.  They feed just like the hummingbirds, except their body weight eventually makes them fall away.  

Most likely females, they come to the cave this time of year to have babies.  Supposedly they are shy and intelligent and glutenous when it comes to nectar.  Too bad these are not the insect eaters.  We have been plagued with all things flying since the rain has made everything creepy crawly hatch out.

By the way, I got 43 videos of these guys from 9:30 to 2:00 am before the feeder went dry.  I thought there were just a few ..... there were probably hundreds.

Well that was fun and a good reminder to bring the feeder in every night.  Not that I don't want to feed the bats, but sugar isn't exactly cheap any more.

They don't bite unless you pick them up.  If you see one on the ground, it's sick, so don't go near.  Yes bats can carry rabies.

Almost as exciting was my trip to get fuel.  I shop at Safeway and get points for discounts.  Sometimes as much as $1.00 a gallon.  Woohoo!!  On this day however, it was only 20 cents a gallon off $2.86.  I was in a hurry I suppose and when it asked for my Safeway card, I stuck my debit card in the slot.

That was a bad idea.  It refused to give my card back.  No matter what I did, it held on to it with a death grip.  I called the guys inside who came out to help.  Try this ..... nope.  Maybe this ..... nope.  It liked the taste and wasn't letting go.

They finally dismantled the entire pump and turned it off completely.  I waited ..... ten minutes later it finally gave my card to the nice man.  He put the pump back together.  Another ten minutes for it to reset everything and the nice man gave me instructions.  I definitely felt like a little kid who hit the wrong button, but come to find out there's a secret to getting the new "intelligently programmed" pumps to do their thing.  I'll never use my Safeway discount there again!!

I'm hoping to head on down South to Tombstone today, that is I can get my act together.  In the meantime, this is what it sounds like at night when the trains pass by.