Bats & Birds

[Steve Wooler]

Bats are not everybody's cup of tea. However, if you like staying in the more open architecture of so many houses on Tobago, particularly up the coast, then you also soon learn that fruit bats are a fact of life and nothing to be frightened of. Just the opposite - their early evening forays are fascinating and stories of bats getting tangled in hair are just a load of bunkum. It just doesn't happen!

I'd like to share some pictures from our recent trip. These were taken on the balcony of a villa in Stonehaven Bay. You don't need to go 'up-country' for experiences like this. We prepared a sugar solution each day (4 parts water, 1 part brown sugar; heat to dissolve; cool before use) for the hummingbird feeders. The same feeders and solotion are of equal interest to fruit bats if you leave them out after sunset. If you don't like bats, just make sure you remove the feeders before sunset.

I would love to find a way to show readers the full sequence of shots. At times there were more than 12-18 bats coming and going at a truly astonishing rate. The movement was so fast and furious that focussing was an impossibility. I used a wide angle lens (22mm) to give me maximum depth of field and stood little more than a metre from the action. I could feel the wind from their wings!

A prettier visitor was this lovely female Barred Antshrike. She and here mate were just two of the many regular daytime visitors to the same balcony.

Finally, the quality is pretty naff, but here is a snatched shot of a beautiful Mot Mot taking a chip from Jill's fingers at the Blue Haven beach bar.

Click to enlarge the photos. I hope you enjoy them all.

[Robert T]

Hi Steve,

Fantastic pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Rob

[SueShard]

Amazing photos Steve, we have bats visit our garden in Buccoo, my husband has spent hours taking photos but none as good as yours! We have never thought to put out sugar solution before (not sure why, mind you we don't think much by the time we reach Tobago-too relaxed!) will try it next time we visit

[Hugh S]

Simply amazing photos! Thanks so much for sharing.

Hugh

[Paul Tallet]

Cor!!

I got some footage but nothing as good as that.

Regards

[Paul Tallet]

How did you get the light?

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Paul

Lighting was via an external flash unit with diffuser to soften the light. Seeing as readers seem to like them, here are a few more from the same set. I love the bat covered in yellow pollen - obviously the greedy one of the pack!

[Andy K]

Beautiful pictures, Steve. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Now, there is a downside with those fellas. They like to rest head down below a rafter of my house.
About a dozen of them. They make a lot of noise quarreling for the best spot on the rafter when they
go to rest around sunrise. They tend to relieve themselves when they fly off and make a terrible mess.
I would like to add a picture of that side of my house and the heap of dung under the rafter they occupy.
For now i leave them where they are and clean the area several times per year with a pressure washer, but
one day i will just install a LAMP next to the rafter.
I had to block the ventilation louvres with mesh wire in order to keep bats outside. They liked to patrol
the place and make the same mess inside.
And: They do collide with obstacles at times. One tried to shoot through the burglar bars in a guest room once
and fractured a wing. I found it, deceased, the day after.
They also collide regularly with the communications aerial on top of my van.

Having said all of that, i acknowledge that some species of bats may be endangered, but they also make it
tough for a property owner to accomodate them because of their lack of tidiness.

The conclusion should be, if you want to see bats, provide the feeders but make sure, the bats reside next
door.

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Andy

You are so right, of course. I've seen places that are almost unusable because of the mess they make and other places that I wouldn't want to stay because of all the ugly devices and deterrents installed. As you suggest, installing a light/lamp seems to be the only guaranteed way if they choose a place. I know one property that is having success with ultrasonic repellent devices. Good luck with your problem!

[Steve Pitts]

Fantastic photos Steve.
Your patience and photography skills were rewarded in spades with those shots.

They may not be the prettiest of animals but they do have a grace and charm about them - assuming they are not relieving themselves as Andy has mentioned.

[Dr Stefan Rustscheff]

And, in Tobago, they are quite harmless, since rabies do not exist on the island. The largest ever reported epidemic of rabies transmitted from vampire bats to humans and livestock occurred on Trinidad 1923-37

see: The history of the only rabies epidemic in Trinidad and Tobago 1923-1937 (Kameel Mungrue)

And, the vampire bat does not live on Tobago, only Trinidad...

[Porridge]

Lovely photos Steve I have never seen them so close great!

[Jean Whieldon]

How incredible Steve - brilliant shots of both bats and birds. They fly in and out so quickly that it's rare to see them up close and personal like this...
Jean
Castara Retreats