The Flickr Littlebrownbat Image Generatr

-credit: Barry Mansell- See my 'About' for more information
www.flickr.com/people/fernbeorn/

-credit: Barry Mansell- See my 'About' for more information
www.flickr.com/people/fernbeorn/

-credit: Barry Mansell- See my 'About' for more information
www.flickr.com/people/fernbeorn/

-credit: Barry Mansell- See my 'About' for more information
www.flickr.com/people/fernbeorn/

-credit: Barry Mansell- See my 'About' for more information
www.flickr.com/people/fernbeorn/

I visited an old talc mine in northern Nevada for the specific purpose of attempting to photograph one of the bats that sleep there during the day. It is quite challenging to get a photo of them as they rest face down along the walls in a passage that I can barely stand in, about chest-high off the floor. Plus, while some light does get in the relatively shallow dig, it is pretty dark for getting a camera to focus and I certainly wouldn’t want to disturb the little critters while they rest up for a night of hunting insects. I took a couple light stands and some little LED panel lights I generally use for nightscape shooting. These lights can be dimmed WAY down so as not to disturb the bats. I also borrowed my wife’s 100mm f2.8 macro lens to for the task. This lens is absolutely tack sharp and purpose built for close-up work and that big aperture lets in lots of light. The downside is that depth of field is almost nil at that focal length and aperture when you’re shooting something from a foot away. Therefore, a single frame may only have the face of a mouse-sized creature in focus and nothing else. By placing the camera on a tripod very low and pretty much leaning the camera to the wall of the passage, I was able to shoot some longish exposures to gather enough light to expose this bat. I also used my mirrorless (Canon R7)camera’s automatic focus stacking feature to shoot 32 separate frames to ensure I’d have sharp sections of the bat from front to back to later merge in Photoshop (the camera also composites them automatically but only in JPEG and I wasn’t super happy with that one). Avid macro shooters actually use a "slider" that physically moves the camera a tiny bit with each shot which produces better results as it eliminates the "breathing" that can occur by changing the focus point each time as it is done here. My result isn’t perfect but, given the challenges and not wanting to spend too much time and disturb the animals, I’m fairly pleased.

As to the animals themselves, I believe they are myotis lucifugus or the not-so-imaginatively named Little Brown Bat, a species of “mouse eared” bats that is, interestingly enough, not related to eptesicus fuscus, the BIG brown bat. They are fascinating little animals that I enjoy watching flit around and chase bugs above my patio on summer evenings. They can eat more than half their body weight in insects in a single night (lactating females can actually consume MORE than their body weight in a night at peak lactation). As I read up on them a bit I also found it quite interesting that females only birth one baby per year. That’s definitely not what I’d expect from such a tiny and delicate creature. They can form colonies number in the tens of thousands but this little spot probably only had a dozen or so roosting in it that I saw.

Just got back from a few weeks of cruising - - didn't even bring a camera - - it was boat intensive - - a transatlantic with only a couple of ports - - and some of those were cancelled due to weather

So...... here's an iphone shot from earlier this summer - - while on a walk with my wife we spotted this bat laying on the sidewalk and going nowhere - - just screeching once in awhile.

I was laying on the ground to take the shot when a car passing bu stopped - - probably thought something was happening to me - LOL - - but in the end he went and got a cup and heavy gloves from his trunk so that we could pick up the bat and toss it into a yard - - away from the feet passing by on the sidewalk.

The bat flew immediately once it was tossed into the air

I think it might have been stunned from hitting some overhead wires.

Little Brown Bat - Beeton, Ontario

Little brown bat at SMLSP (2018) (Jet 100_9917)

I was not expecting to pull a bat out of the water today. This little bat was attacked by seagulls then dropped into the river. While I was looking for something to reach it the bat flipped over and started swimming for the dock. I picked it up, it was pissed, and put in in a bucket until after work. I took it to an abandoned building, in safe spot. It was still pissed when i took it out of the bucket. Seemed to be fine, other than bothered.

301/365

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Photo by Ashlyn Rogers.

Photo by Ashlyn Rogers.

A bat which was found, as shown, clinging to the outside of our house on July 14, 2014. Lummi Island, WA. I think this is the Little Brown Bat (yes, that's the official name) . Myotis lucifugis.

Photo by Ashlyn Rogers.

Photo by Ashlyn Rogers.

Photo by Ashlyn Rogers.

Photo by Ashlyn Rogers.

Little Brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)

Little Brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)

Location photographed: Fremont, California

I encountered this adorable little creature while on a daily hike when I spotted it [during the high-noon daylight hours] feeding on insects!

Little Brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)

Little Brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)