Dicromantispa interrupta

Dicromantispa interrupta
Mantisfly

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

A Bat and a Prayer

The following is a post made by a friend, Brian Houha, to a bulletin board we both belong to. Some might say these stories are only anecdotes, but I say that anecdotes are hints to the wise.

"Bird migrations through south Florida are at a peak right now. At about noon today, I was in the parking lot of the Pompano Harness Track when I saw six crows chasing after a small light brown winged creature that turned out to be a bat. The crows were much faster than the bat and as each was about to grab it with its beak, the bat dodged and weaved. Soon there were 12 crows after the bat. They took turns attacking the bat. But each time I thought the bat was a goner, the bat dropped and outmaneuvered the crow's closing lethal approach. Seconds after one crow missed, another was coming in for the kill. The slow moving bat continued to dodge their attacks. After a few minutes almost all of the crows lost interest and continued on their southern migration. The bat was closing in on some trees when I had to go. There was only one crow on his tail.

"It is rare to find bats in south Florida. I haven't seen one for about a decade. They are not fast fliers like birds and I can see that predation from birds was a major factor that led them to become nocturnal."

Brian Houha, January 13, 2009

No comments:

Post a Comment