Very cool photos of that bat Christine! As a child, I used to see them a lot. When the street lights came on in the evening, all the neighborhood kids would scream at the site of the bats flying around! I don't see bats so much anymore and it's a shame; they are a huge asset to the environment. My next door neighbor found a dead bat on her screened porch last summer and couldn't figure how it got in but someone must have left the door open at some point; don't know how it died but could possibly been starvation. She's a pilot and travels a lot so she didn't know how long it had been in there.

We had a Bat expert give a talk at our local botanical gardens a few years ago and I learned that a single bat can consume up to 3,000 insects daily(nightly), which I find amazing ... just think of how many insects an entire colony/family of bats could eat! I also learned that most bats in Florida live in trees (both dead/decaying, as well as live trees and also in caves) and very few bats actually contract rabies ... but no bat should every be handled because of the possibility of getting bitten. Of course, if by chance a bat is rabid, it can transmit the disease through a bite.

When we move, I might have to see about hanging at least one bat house in a tree on our property ... we have lots of tall trees and bats are good to have around for the thousands of insects they can eat in one night!

Jean, That's another pretty chicken! Gee, I wonder why it ended up in the holly tree; a neighborhood cat or hawk or .... ??
I hope the pile of white feathers wasn't from another chicken that was eaten by a predator.

Lin, I don't think the chicken got eaten by a predator. After I found the pile of feathers, I noticed a white chicken cowering in the bushes nearby but I couldn't get close enough to see if his feathers had been plucked or not. He looked pretty scared.

Aah, I bet something did grab him then ... glad he found an escape in the shrub!

I agree with Mika about the Grackle, Cardinal and Mockingbird. It must have been silly bird day at your house Lin.

Christine, yayyyyyyyyyyyyy for the bat!!!!!!!

Poor little chicken! And cute too; looks like it might be a breed called "Silkies". I'm going to guess it was a hawk or other bird of prey that tried to get it. I know they are very active here right now. I'm on high alert right now and so are my dogs, watching for hawks that are watching my chickens!! Owls will come out in the evenings this time of year too, to feed their hatchlings.

Sorry guys, I'm bat-less again Christine - thank you so much for the bat photos. I'll keep trying and hoping (my first use of the new emoticon!)

But I do have a not-great pic of a big seagull (possible a Herring Gull, but I'm not sure... any experts?) stealing the food I put out for the feral cats. The gulls are very bold and the cats are mostly scared of them.



I bet Plato would see off the bullying seagulls! (but he'd probably also see off the feral cats... )

Only if he was unsuccessful making friends with them...though his friend seeking behavior would probably scare other critters away initially (easily could be mis-understood as aggressive). He runs right up on other beings. If someone knocks on a door here, he's first to the welcome, we have to be there with the stay down commands to curb his propensity to jump up on whoever is there. He's quite the social animal!

Mika, that pretty seagull looks like the European Herring Gull to me too. Great photo! A shame that they steal the food you put out for the cats but I bet the cats don't want to be jabbed by those strong bills! We have an American Herring Gull on this side of the pond that's about the same size as your European variety.
http://oceana.org/marine-life/...
https://www.beautyofbirds.com/...
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/...

Ah, Plato can make friends with me any time he likes!

Here are some Arctic guillemots - the Arctic equivalent of penguins. There was a whole wall of them, an amazing sight. Photo taken couple of years ago, but they're pretty amazing - there was literally an entire cliff face full of these nesting birds. How they knew which nest was theirs, I have no idea!



And a puffin

Oops, sorry, forgot the puffin!

J: Oh my goodness, how did I miss Plato earlier? He sure is a handsome boy! His personality sounds like our Bo who loves everyone .. he truly thinks every human and animal was put on this earth to be his playmate. He very rarely barks and when he does, his tail is wagging furiously at the same time. Gorgeous feline friend Plato has there too!

Mika: Those Arctic Guillemots are new ones to me, never heard of them and I would just have thought they were penguins of some sort. That sure is a massive colony of them on those cliffs! I adore that beautiful Puffin! Wish we had those around here but I don't think they'd appreciate the heat and humidity of Florida.

Here's a penguin (South Africa). I think they are similar to guillemots, but penguins (at least all those I have seen!) are bigger and can't fly. Don't know much about penguins - I believe there are many different kinds; they're always fun to see.



And also from South Africa, a weaver bird. Wonderful nests! We were told that the male builds a nest, then the female enters it and decides whether she likes it or not. If not, the poor old male builds another one for her to try! You can just see the female inside the nest in the second photo. Do you have these in Florida?

Don't think so, but wish we did, as you say amazing nests!

Cute Penguin! The only time I've ever seen a Penguin is at SeaWorld and the Georgia Aquarium.
The Weaver Bird is really pretty, such a vivid color! What an interesting looking nest that is, I've never seen a bird nest quite so elaborate. Isn't it just like a female ... to be so particular about her nest. I googled and read a bit about the Weaver Birds, very interesting and the nests they weave are truly amazing. Check out a few weaver bird nest photos on the right side of this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Those Penguins are adorable. Never seen any in real life except at Sea World. I could watch them at Sea World for hours!

That Puffin is pretty darn cute, too!

jmorth - Is your dog a Siberian Husky?

Wow, what a huge range of extraordinary nests! I wonder how they learn to make them?

This is from a few days ago. When the Cardinal isn't pecking our mirrors, he tends to hang out in my Black Cherry tree.

More photos I found from Black Point WLR I am slowly but surely getting photos transferred to this new computer.