My New Bat Catcher

When I first heard the bat noises last night, I called out, "Lyle is that you?" Lyle didn't answer and didn't appear to be in the corner of the room where I'd heard the rustling, but I decided to hope it was him.

I have no photo of the first bat. He was flying in the hallway. By shining a flashlight at him, I convinced him to go into the Halloween room. He must have been tired because he landed on the window blinds and let me grab him in a big fluffy towel. Then I took the buzzing bundle outside, opened the towel and he flew away.

I was watching TV just before sleeping when the second bat started flying around the loft. There is high spot in the room that bats love to stop in. To grab them in a towel, I would have to crawl around a narrow ledge and then stand on the narrow ledge to grab them.

In the past, what I have done is take an extendable pole with a squeegee and poke them into swooping around. Then I try to catch them in a bag as they swoop past or do the towel grab when they finally stop somewhere accessible.

I wish I had a butterfly net, I thought. But then I decided since I had no butterfly net, I would try combining the bag with the squeegee pole.

And it worked on the third try. I put the bag up under the bat and sort of nudged him into it with the squeegee blade. After a brief portrait session, I took him outside and released him as well.

Yes. I am back to catch and release. Don't get any ideas. This does not mean I am getting soft-hearted.

More Ottawa Bloggers on Bats: Zoom, Megan