I have settled into a new home, and I am very happy here. I have a lovely view from my office window. There are lots of birds singing in nearby trees. On my morning walks around my new neighborhood, I’ve encountered a pack of coyotes, several javelinas, and recently a bobcat. There are also bats in the neighborhood, and I think at least one is roosting somewhere in my back-porch roof.
I enjoy watching bats at twilight. They eat tons of biting insects—as much as their full body weight in a single night! That means they help make it more pleasant to sit outdoors in the evening. Bats also pollinate the saguaro and agave flowers here in the Sonoran Desert, making them an integral part of the traditional food chain.
I remember visiting a bat cave at Carlsbad Caverns at twilight to watch thousands of bats fly out en masse. They headed out to forage on silent, fluttery wings, while we humans watched in fairly silent awe.
Closer to home, there’s the urban equivalent of a bat cave in Tucson. It takes the form of the concrete bridge trusses under Campbell Avenue as it crosses the Rillito (theoretically a river, as the Spanish name indicates, but a dry wash for most of the year, as you can see here).
Thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats, as well as a handful of other species, call this place home in the summer (yes, they migrate back to Mexico for the winter). Walking along the path under the bridge, I can hear the bats chittering to each other. Our triple-digit heat doesn’t deter them, and perhaps they flourish in part because of all our insects and native flowers. I guess they also don’t have trouble hanging out(!) under hot concrete! They are celebrated by city residents in various ways, including the nearby sculpture pictured above.
These migrants are a gift to us. They are industrious and voracious in ridding our skies of gnats and mosquitoes. I’m grateful that no border fences prevent their free flight across our skies.
I invite you to spend some time this week in silent reverence for nature’s gifts, whether bats, bobcats, birds, or other precious creatures in your neighborhood or cityscape. What natural gift would you celebrate today?
Shirin, Thanks for the bat observations. I once lived in a church on Chestnut Street, next to the Penn campus. In the night I would sit at the second story window overlooking the church lawn as bats wheeled and soared, nabbing insects flitting around the street lamps. Bats were my only and probably the best connection to nature in a major city.
Oh, Tom, what a beautiful memory! Connecting with nature in the city can be challenging, and I’m so glad the bats showed you the way….
Peace,
Shirin
We had bats at our house in Scottsdale. Unfortunately, they scared me. I grew up with stories about how bats get entangled in your hair and give you rabies 🤣.
That doesn’t stop me from appreciating the fact that they play an important ecological role.
Oh, my, Damien, that’s quite a childhood horror story. I understand how stories shape us…sometimes for good, while other times not so much. I’m glad your brain can catalogue some good, even as your body shies away from the creatures themselves….
Peace,
Shirin