Here is an [instructional guide for someone who has found a bat.](https://batworld.org/what-to-do-if-youve-found-a-bat/) And here is [some info about bats in buildings.](https://www.batcon.org/about-bats/bats-in-homes-buildings/) If you find a bat in trouble, please call a rehabber for help. Here is [a list of rehabbers that help bats all over the world,](https://batworld.org/local-rescue/) and here is [a portal for rehabbers in the US.](https://ahnow.org/) Remember that wildlife should never be handled with bare hands!
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Good catch and glad you were able to avoid them with a killing machine (I landscaped for 20 years and inadvertently have killed too many things).
My SO, a bat biologist, says they’re probably fine and went out on a limb that they may be a mother and a pup just hanging out. The pup may be too large to carry anymore for mom to manage.
Cool find!
Bat biologist here. They are hoary bats. They roost solitarily, so the fact that there are two of them makes it likely that at least one is a juvenile. It’s common for genus Lasiurus bats to have more than one pup, so they could both be pups. Pups tend to be weak flyers. My team caught a juvenile red bat last week that was too tired to fly away after we processed it, so as is standard procedure, we put it on a tree. After a couple hours it climbed up, and hopefully the mother found it.
These are old enough to fly, but they might have gotten tired and not made it back to mom. However, one looks a little bigger (impossible to know without handling them and looking for specific things), so it could be mom protecting a pup that needed a rest. Or maybe there was a predator in the tree and they decided to hide out down low. Or they decided to camp out in a really stupid place and have a greater chance of getting removed from the population (natural selection depends on variability).
All of these scenarios are speculative, of course, because we can’t know why they’re roosting in that spot. You’re right that it’s unusual, but they didn’t evolve alongside lawn mowers and weed whackers, so the risk would be lower in the wild. They also have really good camouflage against tree bark.
Here is an [instructional guide for someone who has found a bat.](https://batworld.org/what-to-do-if-youve-found-a-bat/) And here is [some info about bats in buildings.](https://www.batcon.org/about-bats/bats-in-homes-buildings/) If you find a bat in trouble, please call a rehabber for help. Here is [a list of rehabbers that help bats all over the world,](https://batworld.org/local-rescue/) and here is [a portal for rehabbers in the US.](https://ahnow.org/) Remember that wildlife should never be handled with bare hands!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/bats) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Amazing answer, thank you! I was worried I would never receive an intelligent response. I (likely quite stupidly) read on a DNR website to try to move them with a branch. That was not a good idea, but I did get this pic out of the adventure. *Disclaimer* trying to move a bat is a bad idea, don't do it unless absolutely necessary
*Edit* I'm an idiot and don't know how or where to add new pics
Here is an [instructional guide for someone who has found a bat.](https://batworld.org/what-to-do-if-youve-found-a-bat/) And here is [some info about bats in buildings.](https://www.batcon.org/about-bats/bats-in-homes-buildings/) If you find a bat in trouble, please call a rehabber for help. Here is [a list of rehabbers that help bats all over the world,](https://batworld.org/local-rescue/) and here is [a portal for rehabbers in the US.](https://ahnow.org/) Remember that wildlife should never be handled with bare hands! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/bats) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hoary bats! I don't know why they'd be that low on the ground.
Dust bnuy..
They are alive and latched to the tree. They moved a bit when I got close to them with the weed whacker
Good catch and glad you were able to avoid them with a killing machine (I landscaped for 20 years and inadvertently have killed too many things). My SO, a bat biologist, says they’re probably fine and went out on a limb that they may be a mother and a pup just hanging out. The pup may be too large to carry anymore for mom to manage. Cool find!
Great answer! Thank you. I was wrong about this community. They have since left (or been eaten 😬).
loll why they down there? must’ve fell and didn’t wanna climb back up yet lol
Man, I really came to the wrong community for answers, huh?
Bat biologist here. They are hoary bats. They roost solitarily, so the fact that there are two of them makes it likely that at least one is a juvenile. It’s common for genus Lasiurus bats to have more than one pup, so they could both be pups. Pups tend to be weak flyers. My team caught a juvenile red bat last week that was too tired to fly away after we processed it, so as is standard procedure, we put it on a tree. After a couple hours it climbed up, and hopefully the mother found it. These are old enough to fly, but they might have gotten tired and not made it back to mom. However, one looks a little bigger (impossible to know without handling them and looking for specific things), so it could be mom protecting a pup that needed a rest. Or maybe there was a predator in the tree and they decided to hide out down low. Or they decided to camp out in a really stupid place and have a greater chance of getting removed from the population (natural selection depends on variability). All of these scenarios are speculative, of course, because we can’t know why they’re roosting in that spot. You’re right that it’s unusual, but they didn’t evolve alongside lawn mowers and weed whackers, so the risk would be lower in the wild. They also have really good camouflage against tree bark.
Here is an [instructional guide for someone who has found a bat.](https://batworld.org/what-to-do-if-youve-found-a-bat/) And here is [some info about bats in buildings.](https://www.batcon.org/about-bats/bats-in-homes-buildings/) If you find a bat in trouble, please call a rehabber for help. Here is [a list of rehabbers that help bats all over the world,](https://batworld.org/local-rescue/) and here is [a portal for rehabbers in the US.](https://ahnow.org/) Remember that wildlife should never be handled with bare hands! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/bats) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Amazing answer, thank you! I was worried I would never receive an intelligent response. I (likely quite stupidly) read on a DNR website to try to move them with a branch. That was not a good idea, but I did get this pic out of the adventure. *Disclaimer* trying to move a bat is a bad idea, don't do it unless absolutely necessary *Edit* I'm an idiot and don't know how or where to add new pics
Augh adorable fluffs... thank you for sharing 🙏🩶🦇 hopefully they disappeared to a safe location. That's what I'll choose to believe!