Little Brown Bat

We found a special friend sleeping in the A-frame Chapel today....a tiny bat! We think it is from the species called "little brown bat," but we're not sure, so let us know if you're a bat expert and think it's something else. The scientific name for the little brown bat is Myotis lucifugus. "Myotis" means "mouse ear" in Latin, which makes sense when you look at the bat's ears in the picture! "Lucifugus" comes from the Latin "lux" (light) and "fugere" (flee). This species is nocturnal, so it flees from the light!

We love bats here at Sound View, and teach kids not to be afraid of them. They are a joy to watch flying around at dusk, and they help keep the insect population under control. A study done in a mosquito-filled room found that little brown bats can eat up to 300 mosquitoes per hour! This is probably not typical in the wild, however, since mosquito populations are usually (hopefully!) not that dense.