Thursday, May 31, 2007

Pteropus poliocephalus

The fruit bat, or Grey Headed Flying Fox, is a marvelous Australian. They have a wingspan of one metre and weigh about a kilogram. One of my favourite things about living where I do is being under the flight-path of the colony that lives in the Botanic Gardens. At dusk, huge flocks of them set out for their feeding place in Rushcutters Bay. They pass overhead in wave after wave.


As Anaglyph will tell you, if you or your car are under a Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) while the bats are feeding, beware the luminescent violet shit.

Another way we interact with the bats is to string the city with power lines. The bats grasp a line in each claw and zappo. These two have done just that.



I'm an urban girl. I'm glad we have power lines because I want electricity when I flick a switch. And I like fauna in the city. I marvel at the parallel lives wild animals & birds lead and how they adapt to the man-made environment. But it does make me sad to see these unfortunate creatures, and I look up and say sorry as I pass them each day.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've discovered that a Tawny Frogmouth inhabits my street, which is quite remarkable. I thought I heard its distinctive boomp-boomp-boomp-boomp noise once when I was half asleep, but on waking convinced myself it was just dream-memories of Treehouse.

But I saw it recently for the second time, sitting pretending to be a tree branch. Which was all very well except that Optus cable with a tree branch sticking off it looks mighty weird.

Sara Sue said...

Those poor things! Say sorry for me too ... I do love me some electricity!

Nice to see you back!

Joey Polanski said...

Too bad them bats dont light up when theyr elecktrifyd.

Cissy Strutt said...

Rev: Well that just makes my heart flutter.

sara sue: Oh, and the running water. I likes me a nice shower. Though with the drought we're showering with buckets. That's with a bucket in the bottom of the shower, not buckets pouring the water. Not having a garden, I use my grey water to flush the lav.

joey: hee hee. How I love your evil mind.

Forrest Proper said...

Bats eat spiders
and bats eat bugs,
some bats eat fish,
but bats won't eat slugs.

Bats fly at night
and live in caves,
from which they emerge
in batty waves.

Bats in the belfry,
bats in our attic,
make my sister
scream in panic.

Cricket bats
aren't bats at all,
Vampire bats
are very small.

Bats make a chirping
noise at night,
while eating bugs
in the bright moonlight.

Bats are helpful,
bats are nice;
bats do, however,
carry lice.

Bats to the left,
bats to the right,
which one is the bat
I saw last night?

Taffy Tickle
took a dare,
Taffy Tickle
got bats in her hair.

Bats are mammals,
don't you see?
Like foxes, cows,
and manatees.

I like dogs
and I like cats,
but neither can compare
to bats.

Cissy Strutt said...

Very nice, Colonel. Now take a bite of a fig.

here today, gone tomorrow said...

poor bats...