Swimming Bats

OK I know I may be nuts but not crazy...

Yesterday while fishing I saw some small brown critter swimming across the creek I was fishing. It looked small as it swam with a hopping motion and I thought it was a mouse. I was surprised when it crawled onto the bank and I saw it was a small BAT!

If that wasn't weird enough I saw ANOTHER ONE TODAY DO THE SAME THING!! I don't know if it is unique to this creek, the bat wanted to cool off, or it was too stupid to realize it could fly across. How cool would it have been if a giant brownie sucked it in? Good thing it didn't cause I would never be able to make a decent casting Bat Fly.

In any case if there are any Batologists out there with a possible explanation of this behavior it would be appreciated.

I saw the same thing on a small stream over here. I'd never seen anything like it before. Like you, I thought it was a mouse. That is, until it climbed up a rock, fluttered it's wings and the proceeded to fly right at me. Thank god for quick reflexes. It must have something to do with the heat. As if we didn't have enough types of things to imitate, now we have to start tying Bat patterns. lol.

Wow Bamboozle, you really got my mind to step back in time about 40 years with your story. As a young boy in the early 60's, a friend and I were looking through a Field & stream magazine and saw an add for the "Amazing Vibrobat Lure" ! It came in three sizes and three awsome colors. The photo's showed this guy with strings of fish and "they would only hit the Vibrobat, if you want fish like these buy it today!". Of course we pooled our coins and ordered the lures. If I recall, we lost them all to river snags and never caught one fish with them. The add was to catch us and that is probably what they were intended for. We have bats that live in our old wooden barn, I was watching one last night making hay of quite a few flying critters. Thanks again, Jonezee

There could actually be a number of explanations for this behavior. I'm assuming that this was during the day? Any idea of what type of bat this was? The only bat species that I can think of that intentionally goes into water is the flying fox bat. They will actually dive in the water to get at pieces of fruit that fall from the trees. Another species of Bat from South America eats fish, but they do not intentionally go in the water. These bats pick the fish up from the surface with their feet. A lot of bat species will swoop down towards the water. Most of the time its to get a drink (although I think that most species do this with stationary water and I think most do this at night). Some bat species also swoop towards water in order to catch insects from the waters surface. I kind of doubt this to be the case with your bat because the running water would hinder their echolocation. They also use their feet like the fish eating bat so I don?t think they are really swimmers.

Those bats were probably there because it was hot, so hot that perhaps their normal places to get water dried up. I would bet that they normally get water from somewhere close to their roost. If it?s a cave then I bet there is usually water at the bottom of it. If that dried up then they would have to leave the cave to find water. Going out during the day, dehydrated, trying to get a drink from running water ? must have just fallen in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jonezee

Wow Bamboozle, you really got my mind to step back in time about 40 years with your story. As a young boy in the early 60's, a friend and I were looking through a Field & stream magazine and saw an add for the "Amazing Vibrobat Lure" ! It came in three sizes and three awsome colors.

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AWESOME! Oh man, I gotta get me one of those Vibrobats!! It sound like something Grandpa Munster would invent, "the Igor Model in basic black"

The only thing missing from flyfishing is all of those hokey mechanical lures to lust after.

GburgFisher:

It was a daytime event, both times!! As far as species goes I have no idea except it was small and brown with black wings. I'm sure it is the same species that freaks me out at night while fishing so maybe it was a bat-conspiracy to freak me out in the day!

:wink:

You didn't see a baseball floating close by, did you??

:D

I searched the Fly Archives and did not find the ?swimming bat fly?. What gives? :cry:

Did find on a search of the internet the following:

There are fish eating bats which use sound to find the position of animals just under the surface of the water. These bats fly just above the surface of the water and use the sharp claws on their feet to catch fish, water insects and crustaceans.

Bamboozle,
At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, do be careful of bats encountered during mid-day hours. I had a run-in with a bat several years ago while teaching fishing skills to a group of kids. It kept diving at the kids and eventually fell into the water. I caught it with a net and put it on ice. I carried it to a vet lab for diagnostics and the results showed it was rabid. I hate to think what could have happened if one of the kids had been bitten or scratched by that bat!

Bats do catch insects near the surface of the water. Some species, such as the Yuma myotis, appear to skim the water's surface as they forage (although they are a few inches up). And many bat species do drink on the fly from the surface of the water. Running water, as in riffles, will interfere with echolocation, but flat pools make very good foraging areas. The calls will echo off of the flat water surface very well. We pick up water surface echoes all the time when doing acoustic surveys.

As for swimming, the only times I have seen it are when one gets whacked with a rod, or when one falls out of a mistnet. They swim reasonably well, but cannot fly worth a darn when wet. I suspect the bats you saw either fell or were knocked out of the foliage while they slept.

You might look up bats at www.batcon.org for more info.

Dennis

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bamboozle

I'm sure it is the same species that freaks me out at night while fishing so maybe it was a bat-conspiracy to freak me out in the day!

:wink:

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I had one hanging off the peak of my hat eating the flys buzzing around my face one night this summer. It was just after dark by the light of the moon. My buddy fishing 20 feet away didn't belive me till he turned on his head lamp to see it. :wink:

-Hillard