Among Friends

[Spurt]

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@Bird mama wrote:

I had lightening bugs to beat the band in June and July @Leeny   Not so much in August.  I've only met 3 bats in my life.  The most exciting was the little brown bat who got into the IT department at around 5:30 pm.  

One late afternoon, lots of us in IT were still working and I was sitting in my cubicle when I saw a flash of something brown out of the corner of my eye and then I heard Lillie scream.  I shot up and a bunch of guys were chasing this poor little brown bat around.  The walls of the cubicles were covered with fabric and the little bat was terrified and hanging onto the wall.  I put my empty wastepaper basket over the bat.  My wastepaper basket was immaculately clean because I used small garbage bag liners.  I think it was a baby.  I took off my cardigan sweater, dropped it in the wastepaper basket and little bat cuddled up.

I went outside where we had a small courtyardish looking area.  I put my sweater near the little base of the tree, including the bat and left it there.  I wouldn't tell anyone where I took the bat because I didn't trust that they wouldn't hurt it.  When I got home my husband said, did you leave your cardigan at work?  I said, I left it in a secluded place with a bat swaddled in it.

My husband freaked out, sigh.  When I got to work the next morning, I checked my sweater, the bat was gone.  I didn't wear the sweater until I washed it when I got home that night.

My bat experience was good 

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@Bird mama 

Thank you for helping that bat...

We went to a place called Link's Lake and took a tour of a famous cave that had been known for being a outlaw hide out, a gambling saloon, and home of some "famous bats".....and got to meet a little bat in person.....My only other encounter with bats was when i went to Target and everyone was staring at the top of the wall, and asked what was going on and there was a little bat (I hope no one harmed and wildlife rescue )...

There's lots of bats around here....outside the city there's a road named the "bat cave" and there is an actual cave with the bats live and at dusk its quite a display to see them fly out...Even though they have a bad reputation bats eat mosquitoes and dine on pests that destroy crops......so the bats should be given a high honor....

Of course the mot famous bats here in Texas are in Austin and live under the Congress Ave bridge and they attract of lot of tourists...1.5 million bats emerge each night...

[mousiegirl]

@Spurt   Thank you.  My girl pup now has congestive heart disease, only nine years old, but the heart med seems to be working well, just hope it continues for a long time.

My DD recently moved to Texas from Colorado, due to it being her boyfriend's home state where his family is and where he can make better money working for his Uncle in plumbing.

What a difference in weather, being brought up in N. Caifornia, then moving to Colorado for college and staying until recently.  

[Leeny]

@Bird mama 

Robins can empty out a bird bath faster than any other bird I've ever seen. They really like to get those feathers splashed through and through. 

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@Bird mama wrote:

@mousiegirl   Robins bathe like no other bird I've seen in the wild or in my own house.  They get into it.

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[Spurt]

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@mousiegirl wrote:

@Spurt   This reminds me of the movie the Birds, lol.

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@mousiegirl 

And when the descend on our city that's EXACTLY what its like....Alfred Hichcock's "The Birds"......

[Spurt]

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@mousiegirl wrote:

@Spurt   Thank you.  My girl pup now has congestive heart disease, only nine years old, but the heart med seems to be working well, just hope it continues for a long time.

My DD recently moved to Texas from Colorado, due to it being her boyfriend's home state where his family is and where he can make better money working for his Uncle in plumbing.

What a difference in weather, being brought up in N. Caifornia, then moving to Colorado for college and staying until recently.  

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@mousiegirl 

Hugs to your girl pup....glad to hear the heart medicine seems to be working....

[Bird mama]

I have news!  I got up this morning to 'pay the water bill' and just stayed up and made a cup of coffee.  I heard a cricket.  I even opened the back door to make sure that I was not experiencing auditory hallucination.  It was one little cricket and I was overjoyed.

[Bird mama]

This one's for @Leeny   I just scrolled past this on twitter and it's not a joke.  Apparently these are quite a common sight in the Phillippines.

5 foot tall this one.  Wow, didn't know they grew big enough to hug a human.  

[mousiegirl]

@Bird mama  I am wondering if you have offered GG some apple or carrots?  Apples would give some moisture, once the rain stops if vegetation disappears.

[Bird mama]

@mousiegirl   I thought GG was living under the front porch however I'm beginning to wonder.  I think GG comes by and lounges on the front porch when the spirit moves him/her because he/she knows theres an exisiting burrow behind the shrub if the rubber meets the road.

As a matter of fact, yesterday during my Target run I picked up a bag of peeled baby carrots.  I dropped a couple in front of the burrow and put a couple on the front porch.  GG was hanging out around the front porch alot yesterday and he/she ignored the carrots near the burrow but ate 3 carrots on the front porch.  I thought about taking a photo but I felt it was rude while he/she was eating.  My cranky neighbor next door had her usual Friday family gathering and I think all the folks parking in her driveway or in front of the house (it's usually much quieter) disrupted GG's flow.  I left some baby carrots for GG and they went untouched for nearly 24 hours.

I tossed them because let's face it, I'm trying to supplement a groundhog, not invite rats or mice.  I haven't seen GG all day so the next time he/she shows up I'll put some carrots out.

GG will drink water out of the stainless steel bowl in the backyard.  I guess GG saw that the squirrels drank out of it and didn't die so it must be safe.  GG is definitely independent and goes his/her own way and I respect that.  The Gerry's were generational for nearly 20 years.  

[Bird mama]

I would like to clarify the bat photo.  I don't think it was necessarily manipulated after the fact however I think a photographer would know how to make the scale of the bat look larger.

The bat is real and is called the Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox.  That's one high falutin' name for a bat

Endemic to the jungles of the Philippines, this enormous species of megabat is the largest bat in the world with a wingspan of up to five and a half feet and colonies that can number up to 10,000 members.

Though flying fox megabats live in Asia, Africa, and Australia, the giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) is found exclusively in the Philippines. The largest specimen of this fruit-eating megabat species has been recorded as having a wingspan of five feet and six inches, with a rather slight bodyweight of around 2.6 pounds.

Though its wingspan is wide, this bat’s body is small. Varying between seven and 11.4 inches, these seemingly terrifying creatures don’t even exceed one foot in terms of length.

Here's a lady holding the bat - stil a lotta bat

Here's it's foot

Unfortunately, while the world’s biggest bat works tirelessly on reforestation, its two-legged enemy below works twice as hard at deforestation.  

Unfortunately, the continuous encroachment upon the animal’s habitat has seen it virtually disappear. To be clear, one can still find the giant golden-crowned flying fox all over the Philippines — but only in areas that are peaceful enough to see it let its guard down.

It would be nice if man didn't ruin everything.  When I first saw the picture on twitter I thought yikes, now that is a bat.  Now that I've read more about it, yea, I would rush in to defend it.  And try to feed it some fruit