Bats are nocturnal, flying mammals.
They fall into two groups: the megabats and the microbats. Megabats are relatively large, fruit-eating bats, while microbats are small insect eaters.
The megabats, represented locally by the Grey-headed Flying Fox, are the ones most often noticed in Bayside. However they do not call Bayside home. Rather, they fly to and over Bayside in their search for food such as fruit and flowers. Unlike the microbats, the Flying Foxes rely on their eyesight and sense of smell to navigate and locate food.
Microbats are much smaller bats that use echolocation to navigate and find food, and are capable of flying safely in total darkness. Being small and mostly silent to human ears, many people are unaware of their existence. Several species of microbats call Bayside home.
You can encourage bats to visit your garden! Learn how with our Gardens For Wildlife habitat recipes.
Species found in Bayside
- Gould's Wattled Bat
- Chocolate Wattled Bat
- Eastern Bent-wing Bat
- Lesser Long-eared Bat
- Little Forest Bat
- White-striped Freetail Bat
- Large-footed Myotis
- Vespedalus species
More Information
- Invisible Friends in the Night
- Batting4Bayside Project
- Batting4Bayside: Initial Anabat Results Early results of bat surveys in Bayside
- Batting4Bayside: Locations Summary of interim results of location-based bat surveys in Bayside
- Batting4Bayside: Time of Night Initial overview of preferred time of night per species
- Bat Call Identification Assistant
- Bat Roosting Boxes How to build one
- Bats and lights in Bayside
- Microbats and Bat Boxes About bat box usage at Organ Pipes National Park and Wilson Reserve
- Recommended Books
