Bats, September 7, 2014

Silver-haired Bat

Silver-haired Bat (click to see the larger version)

I’ve been seeing migrating bats at Montrose for the last few weeks now. This morning, September 7, I had about 10 come in off the lake while I was standing at the east end of Montrose Beach. A couple landed on the light tower but most continued flying south over the beach and dunes and landed somewhere in the wooded area of the point. This is fairly typical behavior. Since I can’t identify bats in flight I have no idea which species I’ve been seeing, but most fall into 2 categories – large with dark underparts and small with pale brown underparts. In the past the local Peregrine Falcons would perch on the light tower at this time of the year and predate the bats as they were coming in off the lake in the morning. For whatever reason they don’t do this anymore. This morning I found a bat that I believe is a Silver-haired roosting on the side of a concrete light pole at the south end of the beach. A more thorough search of the point would almost certainly turn up more.