.......bats

Yogis,

Some of you have heard this story as I have been sharing tales of all the non-human creatures that I share this parcel of land with during my yin workshops. This one involves bats. You know…..the species always mentioned in the same sentence as witch, vampire or blood. The maligned misunderstood bat. 

For the twenty years that we lived in the house next door we had bats in the eaves.  For the most part our only sightings were at dawn and dusk while out in the yard, witnessing their comings and goings.  But occasionally one would unintentionally find its way inside. 

I remember the one time putting all three boys to bed in their attic room only to find a bat hanging on the wall directly next to me and the baby.  Or the time I was alone downstairs in the early morning folding laundry when one began to swoop through the family room directly over my head and then curiously following my loud piercing shrieks as I ran up the stairs slamming my bedroom door and stuffing a blanket under it.  Oh, or the time I simply covered myself on the couch in a big blanket and screamed for help.

We learned the drill. Wait until daylight and then go back to find it and gently grab it with a towel or blanket.  In the light they don’t want to fly and don’t resist. Where they appear enormous and menacing at night, wrapped in a soft towel they are more like a small scared bird.  Once set outside, at some point they fly off.

Unless of course you can’t find them……. Once it was 2 days later when for some reason we looked up into a large church shaped birdhouse we had sitting on the ledge above the fridge, only to see him hanging upside down from the church ceiling. Now that was a sight!

When we moved next door, our renters were not quite as pleased with discovering a bat in the bedroom their second year.  So, once we entered fall which is the legal time to seal them out of the eaves, we did.  And where do you think they went?

Our new eaves, of course. It was a simple move next door for them, as it was for us. These eaves run along our bedroom wall so each spring/early summer we hear the commotion as the sun sets which I assume to be mating and childrearing.

My husband gave me a bat house the next year for my birthday (I don’t know a lot of women who get bat houses as birthday gifts) thinking that would bring them out of the eaves. The bat house still sits empty. Can’t say I blame them. 

I like having bats. They are nature’s mosquito control. It is said they can eat up to 1200 insects in an hour. Bats are the largest predator of night flying insects.  Bats also play a role in pollination and their poop is good for the ecosystem. There is something mystical about them. Sitting around the fire pit seeing their silhouettes across the night sky makes my heart beat a little stronger. Some of their spirit meanings are dreams, illusion, vision, physic powers and guardian of the night. 

Sadly, over these last couple of years we seem to have fewer and fewer.  There is a disease which spread rapidly through the US and has now killed over 6 million bats, with some species facing potential extinction.  Scientists are working hard to try to slow the spread, find solutions and convince Congress that bat preservation is important. There is some hope as certain species seem to be developing adapting skills and rebounding. Only time will tell. In the meantime I have many more mosquito bites…….

My home will always be open for their return. 

Embracing the wild things,
SARAH