Caleigh finds a bat

Today Caleigh was out back playing with chickens or something, and she called out to us that there was a bat swimming in the hot tub. We had gotten a hottub from someone on freecycle, with the intent of installing it up on the hill overlooking the yard, but like many projects it still sits where we unloaded it. Over the winter it fills up with snow and thaws in the spring, so there is a foot or so of water in it at the moment.

We thought it was a bit of a stretch, seeing as where bats aren't generally thought of as being aquatic. I went out to look, and sure enough, it was a little bat, struggling for it's life in the water.

I fished it out of there with a shovel, and set the shovel on a strut under our little bridge where he would be out of reach of the psycho-killer cats, yet near enough that we could watch him.

I named him Andy, inspired by the Keith Secola song "ND Waza Bat" (don't ask, but if you really want to know, google it). The poor little critter was not happy about being wet, so he spent much of the afternoon bathing, licking his fur to clean and dry it. There didn't appear to be any damage to him physically (broken wings etc). By the end of the afternoon, he was mostly dry and had shifted around to sleep, in typical bat fashion, by hanging over the edge of the shovel by his rear feet.

I'm pretty proud of the fact that Caleigh isn't creeped out by the idea of a bat, and she thought it was pretty cool that she got to see it up close. She said he was cute. Well, he was, in the smae way that an ugly little bulldog puppy is cute.

As dusk fell, he was still sleeping, exhausted after his rough day. I couldn't let this one pass without snapping a few pictures, so here they are:

Here he is, with Caleigh in the background, after just being plucked from certain death in the hottub. (I can't belive how old she looks in this shot!)

And here he is trying to dry himself off by licking, it took most of the day.

A shot of him hanging upside down from the shovel blade, sleeping.

And another.

I may go out and check on him later, to see if he is still there resting up or if he has flown off in search of skeeters and the rest of his flock. Nah, too many skeeters...I guess I need more bats!