A Tennessee Girl in Oz: Bats!!!

So the past couple of nights, we've been going out to look at bats. And it. has. been. awesome!

Sydney is home to these huge bats called gray-headed flying foxes. We discovered one evening when we were out on a walk that they've been coming to some of the trees nearby to feed at night. (They eat nectar from fruits and flowers.) The first time we saw a bat flying in to land in a tree, we thought it was a big bird, like a crow or raven. But after we heard it make noises and fly over us, we figured out it was a bat!

We did some reading on them that first night after getting back to the apartment. It turns out that there is some history with Sydney and these bats. A big colony used to live in the Royal Botanic Gardens, but the city decided to "move them" when trees started dying because of them. There is some interesting reading about the bat-moving controversy and process, and apparently it was quite a big issue in Sydney for a long time.

Anyway, after learning a little bit about these guys, we decided to go out at dusk the next night and get the full experience. We went out right as it was starting to get dark and picked out a spot by the tree where we'd seen them before. We waited for awhile, and then sure enough, right after it was properly dark, the bats started flying in. At first it was just one by itself. But within the next 10 minutes, they were steadily appearing out of the sky and landing in the tree.

It's hard to describe how cool and big these things look when they come swooping in over your head! They really do look like large birds, but once they get close you can see the bat-shape to their wings.

It was dark where we were watching them, but we could get pretty close to the branches where they were. (They digest food in like 30 minutes, so we didn't get directly under them!) It was so interesting to watch because they would land on a branch and then crawl around on it, hanging upside down with their feet. They were really very active, especially when two ended up on the same branch! That seemed to cause a bat-fight, where there was lots of screeching and rustling, and then sometimes one or both of them would fly out of the tree and circle around.

The screeching was just one of the sound they made - they were very vocal little guys and chirped quite frequently while they were in the tree.

Overall, we stayed out by the trees for a couple hours that night. It was so fascinating, especially when one would take off to circle. I have to admit that I ducked a couple times when one would come flying over really low - they were a little intimidating up close! I also covered my head, just in case there was poop. Preparedness!

Toby said this was his favorite thing we've done in Sydney so far, and I have to admit that it's petty high up on my list too!

We managed to snap a couple pics, but they're not very good. It's much better seen in person, so everybody come on over so you can look at bats with us!