Nature Notebook – Little Brown Bat

Our bat-in-residence made an appearance for a photo-op recently. His droppings clued us into his presence long ago.

Although he has not allowed a close enough examination to say for sure, this is probably a Little Brown Bat. They are more common around here. His body is probably about 3 inches, as opposed to the Big Brown Bat which measures a whopping 4 ½ inches! He should weigh between 7 and 9 grams (equal to ¼ ounce), less than a sheet of paper.

After awakening from hibernation, females form nursing colonies to raise their young. Since our bat has been a solitary resident for four years, most likely it is a male.

Little brown bats primarily eat aquatic insects (although not many mosquitoes) so his residence near our front yard ponds must make him very happy. The amount of droppings indicates he is doing a dandy job of finding food.

In his picture, he is peeking out upside down. One of his ears is at the bottom with a leg close by.