Bat House

Sunday morning we woke up and the kids quickly identified a bat, perched on the wall, near the ceiling, in our dining room. These same kids will step on, over or around their toys and clothes on the floor day after day without a second thought, but one little thing is "off" on the wall, and they all notice it right away.

We were headed out the door though, so I just texted the landlord and asked for removal suggestions. She had a net that we could use. Roger that. To be continued.

I have some experience removing birds. We once lived in a place where we mostly left the doors open all day, every day. Birds could fly in, but they were largely incapable of flying out. They also didn't want help. They actually really did not want help. Mostly they just wanted to stare out the windows or fly into ceiling fans.

This bat on the other hand was quite content and did not desire to move. "Trapping" it in the net was an inconsequential achievement. Coaxing the bat to let go of the wall on the other hand....

My wife handed me a flattened cereal box which I slid along the wall, under the net, towards the bat. The bat was not excited about this in the least. Eventually I prevailed and the bat shifted its grip to the net, not without a bit of bat-squeaking first, and my cereal box closed the gap, and I walked it out the front door.

Some friends have indicated that they just held a broom up to a bat, and the bat would just grab onto the broom. I just can't picture that. I guess my viewpoint is tainted by dealing with spastic birds.

Outside, before I even had a chance to remove the box from the net, some tiny gap between the two was obviously adequate for the bat to escape, and off he flew into the forest.

So long!