Annual bat visitors at the hummingbird feeders

For the second year in a row, as summer just begins to ebb, my hummingbird feeders start to receive visitors around the clock as the nectar-feeding bats begin to migrate south through southeastern Arizona to Mexico and Latin America. My first clue that they've arrived is an empty hummingbird feeder in the early morning hours. Compared to hummingbirds, bats are pigs!

There are two types of nectivorous bats in southern Arizona, the threatened Mexican Long-tongued Bat and the endangered Lesser Long-nosed Bat. These mammals have learned that hummingbird feeders make good sources of nectar, and I'm happy to make gallons and gallons of sugar-water to feed them. I'm participating in a citizen science research project to provide data to better understand their migration patterns. (Learn more.)

Nectivorous bat at the hummingbird feeder, August 2013

I don't have the best camera for taking night shots, but I hope to eventually get a clear enough shot to properly ID them. They fly so close to me, I can feel the air from their wings!

Bat hovering near the ground on the right August 2013.

This bat is a bit harder to make out from the dark shapes around him, but look carefully among the cactus below the draping mesquite branch under the feeder on the left.

Bat in mid-flight.

Unlike hummingbirds, bats can't perch on a feeder because their legs don't bend in the right direction. They swoop in, take a quick sip, and then swoop back out again. That means trying to take a picture of these eat and run critters is even more challenging!

Bat sipping from the feeder on the left, August 2013.

Bat approaching feeder on the right, August 2013.

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