I’m seeing Eastern Red Bats frequently about an hour before dusk around Turtle Pond in Central Park. I suspect with shorter days, and winter approaching they’re eating all they can and risking being out earlier.

An Eastern Red Bat has been roosting in the same bush for a few days in Central Park.  Tonight I stayed to watch it wake up.  The video is a bit long, but it’s fascinating to see the bat slowly wake up.  It ended up flying right over my head when it left.

A sleeping Easter Red Bat in Central Park’s Ramble today, in a bush at eye level. Great find by Janet Wagner.

One of the joys of a warm winter’s day is finding an Eastern Red Bat hunting or perched on a tree. While Eastern Red Bats usually hunt at night, they will hunt during the day on a warm winter’s day.

Today, was such a day.  Erika Piik found one flying in the Maintenance Field which is in The Ramble around 78th Street west of the East Drive.  The bat would hunt insects for 30 minutes and then perch for a similar amount of time.  It perched once on a tree trunk and once on tree branch.  While flying it avoided being eaten by a Cooper’s Hawk, not once but twice! 

In addition to photographing the bat, I was able to get nice recordings.

I saw a Silver-haired Bat (and recorded its echo location) flying around the southern end of Turtle Pond. On days early or late in the season it is not uncommon to see a bat in the late afternoon.  Nice to see my third bat in a week.

One of the joys of birding in Central Park is that will all of the great birds, come great bird watchers who find rare things.  Today’s great find was a Silver-haired Bat that must have been disturbed during the day and ended up sitting on a sawdust covered log in the Tupelo Meadow.

At first the bat looked like it might have died, with no sign of life.  But as it got darker, the bat became more and more active, until it flew off into the dim light of dusk.