Sunday, October 24, 2010

A Lone Ranger in the gulch

The night flier and a grounded rodent.

A chance photo of a bat is always icing on the cake.

Identifying bats from photos like this one is a guessing game, but sometimes you get a hunch from some diagnostic feature like those teeny weenie bat feet.




The night flier with the Lone Ranger mask was possibly the Western small-footed myotis, Myotis ciliolabrum, which we have previously camera trapped at the Chimineas.

Whatever it is, the image brings to mind a staccato hi-frequency voice amidst the nocturnal buzz and chirps of crickets, a piping poorwill, and the imagined footfalls of predators in the arroyo.

And there were other stunt fliers.



Night life in Badger Head Gulch is a contrast to the hushed stillness of the summer afternoon when we set our camera.

6 comments:

  1. Is that a wood rat coming and going?

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  2. I added myself to follow your blog. You are more than welcome to visit mine and become a follower if you want to.

    God Bless You :-)

    ~Ron

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