I Spy... a Bat in the Daylight

BY: STEVE BIASETTI
GROUP FOR THE EAST END DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Look! Up in the sky… It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s Super… actually, that’s not true. Last week it was a bat: an Eastern Red Bat, to be precise. On March 21 I was walking along Narrow River Road in Orient a little before noon when a fluttering creature overhead caught my attention. When I got my binoculars on it, I was surprised - and excited - to discover its identity.

Photo by Sarah-Jayne Collins via National Park Service

As described in Mammals of the Eastern United States (Whitaker & Hamilton 1998), “This is one of the most beautiful of all American bats. [I]ts conspicuous bright-reddish or rusty color at once distinguishes it from all other species.”

Last Saturday, this colorful flier put on quite a show. From my daily nature notes: “it flew among the treetops, stopped at a tree snag, crawled horizontally along the bark (like a nuthatch), and then returned to the skies flying among the treetops again.”

This recent experience triggered my memory and compelled me to check my past observations of the species. On five other occasions I have spied an Eastern Red Bat flying over eastern Long Island during daylight hours. Three observations occurred in the latter half of March (3/26/08, 3/30/19, 3/21/20), while a fourth sighting was in late April (4/25/03). The final two times took place in early September at Cupsogue Beach (9/2/16: “flying in from ocean about 8 a.m.”) and in mid-November at the Group’s old office in Bridgehampton (11/14/05: “flying around parking lot pre-dusk around 4:30 p.m.”).

The thing in the sky grabbing your attention may not always be Superman. But it’s worth checking out just the same!