More Bits on Bats, Amazing Sunset -- 8/18/13

More tidbits about bats... there are 20 species of bats in Arizona, but their habitats are becoming ruined.  Recreational cave mines delete their roosting places, and since there are not a lot of belfries for them, their numbers are decreasing.  We toured the cave pictured above, Kartchner Caverns southeast of Tucson in  the Benson area.  They have protected their "Big Room" because it is a roosting place for the bats.  Tours in that room are prohibited from April 15 to October 15, as it is the bat nursery.  It is a State Park, and they also have a campground for those interested. 
The Wild Bird Store's newsletter has a great picture of a bat feeding from a hummingbird feeder.  They can empty it in a night.  However, people are encouraged to allow them to feed as this helps to keep their population going. 

Other information you might want to know is that not all bats have rabies.  A few of them do, just like any other animal. They may be hanging low or on the ground; if you come into contact with them, don't touch them, they are probably sick.  You could call the Az. Game and Fish Dept. to get them. The healthy ones will just fly away.  Also note, even though when you are sitting outside when they are flying around, they may come closes to you because they're eating the bugs that are attracted to your body.  They will not run into you! There is a good book about bats in the Nat'l Parks Store if you want more info.

 Now, I must show you the beautiful sunset I took on Tuesday from our backyard...Totally Awesome!! See for yourself.

 

 

 

It's still overcast much of our days, and this plus the moisture in the air provides us some excellent thunder and lightning.  Friday night at Sly and Ira's we had the best sky show!  Their son Brett was filming and trying to get photos, so I hope to get some from him to  include.  It's a big WOW factor! 

 

 

Perseids Shower and the Desert Tortoise Aug.15, 2013

The fastest ... and the slowest here in our Tucson desert.
According to Tucson News Now: 

The year’s best shooting star show, Perseids meteor shower,  occurred last Sunday and Monday nights,  best seen after midnight. It is an annual event every year in August.  There are several others, in April and  November, but “The Perseids are the good ones,” says meteorite expert Bill Cooke of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.  Ron and I saw 2 on our way home from Valentinaland on Sunday evening. I saw more on Monday night.  Friends sat out in their yards and had a great show!!
The Perseids take their name from their apparent origin in the constellation Perseus, the hero of ancient Greek myth born from a shower of heavenly gold. Known for producing fireballs that might streak across a third of the sky, they owe their brilliance to the speed — nearly 134,000 mph — with which they smack into the upper atmosphere. “It’s also because of the size of the meteors,” Cooke says. The dust grains are about one-fifth of an inch across and burn nicely as they zip overhead.
Those dust grains come courtesy of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which circles the sun once every 133 years and leaves behind a debris trail. (Comets are basically dirty snowballs that develop tails when they approach the sun and start to melt.)  Picture of meteor shower below:

 

Now the story on the slowest...  The Desert Tortoise, (Gopherus agassiii).
First Jill saw it next to the road in our development, HoneyBee Ridge.  After picking me up we wanted to get a picture of it -- of course!  It had already traveled away from view.  A half hour later Ron was driving home and saw a turtle next to the road just outside our development.  He stopped and got a picture of it while assessing if it was safe enough to leave there or if he should move it. There was no traffic so he left it.  It's a good thing, because you are not supposed to pick them up.  They empty their bladder if they are picked up, which causes medical problems for them.  The desert tortoise population has declined due to urbanization, and they are fully protected in Arizona.  The good news is that you can adopt one of them from the Desert Adoption Program. You can never "own" one, but you may provide custody of one -- if you pass the requirements! If you see one you are supposed to notify the Arizona Game and Fish Dept. so they can assess, protect, and monitor their whereabouts.  Ron, being a good Samaritan, of course notified them after learning about this.  Here it is!!!
                      

 

Tucson Wild Life Blog   Oh, Bats!!   8/13/13

 

 

This is from our good neighbors across HoneyBee Canyon:

“Hi Peej, Jill discovered this little critter last night in our yard. The light shining on him and his handiwork made it beautiful. It was shimmering in the very light breeze.

 

Best, Rodney”

 

                                        

Speaking of spiders…there was a black widow in our mailbox yesterday.  By today it had webbed all over inside and had already captured another small spider. The black widow webs are white and spun in a "crazy fashion" I was told.   I had to clear it all out (with my pink Japanese fly swatter from Catherine…it has it’s own little fly dustpan attached.  Very cute!) so we could get mail, and so as not to bite our mailperson!

The other recent wildlife around here are BATS. Of course they usually are seen flying around at night.  We see them under the streetlights, but since there are no street lights in our neighborhoods, we don’t see them much at our home. However, last night at sunset there were 3 of them --bigger ones with a unique call flying over us. They looked like birds.  One of them took a flyover and quick drink from our pool.  As I readied my camera they all flew off. Our other good friends, Jon and Catherine, had small bats drinking from their hummingbird feeder and had to bring it in at night or it would be emptied.
Last month however, there were thousands of  small ones that flew out from under a Tucson bridge, covering the sky.  The story was on our news.   

Bat Bridge Discovery

Please read on…story from KVOA TV  page down to read story..

keep going....

now you see it!

Every Thursday evening at dusk, in June, July, and August, docents from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum are stationed at two "Bat Bridges" in town: River/Campbell and at Pantano River Park (located at Pantano/22nd). Every night at this time of year, huge clouds of Mexican free-tailed bats swirl out from under Tucson bridges at sunset and fly into the twilight sky. The bats start flying at sunset (about 7:30 p.m.) and usually fly north. This is a great opportunity for the entire family to enjoy beautiful sunsets and appreciate firsthand this awesome spectacle. Docents will have bat detectors and hands-on materials and will be available to answer questions. We recommend arriving 40 minutes prior to dusk.

KVOA.com