Vultures, Owls and Bats. DUW!!

[Clementine_3]

As I said in Laooda's bat thread, my son is majoring in Wildlife Management and spent the summer working for a research firm. They trapped all sorts of bats from VA to ME and took blood, fur and isotope samples and attached radio transmitters to some and tracked them. He had a great time and I thought I'd share some of the pictures he sent me.
They came across an abandoned house and figured it would be full of bats but they found two baby Turkey vultures instead! They estimated them to be about a week or so old. They do have rapture permits so they took blood and feather samples.



They also accidentally caught a Barred owl. They just cut him out of the net and took some quick shots before releasing him.




And, of course, the bats. I don't remember exactly which ones are what but think I have these right.

Silver hair


Large brown


Small brown (I think those are right?)


And some Indiana bats. They are endangered (about 1/2 million left) so their work mainly focused on them.






I thought they were pretty cool, hope you enjoy them!

[tigerlily]

Wow, more great pics. Tonight is just a photo fest, and I'm loving it. Thanks for sharing. I love that barred owl, and the baby turkey vultures and wayyyyyy cuter than the adults.

That second to last pic is just cracking me up. I don't even know why, but the little thing looks so ticked off and squishy at the same time.

[python.princess]

For some reason, I've always been fascinated with bats.
But I gotta say- they're much cuter when they're NOT pissed off! Haha! Great pics tho!

[blackcrystal22]

I donno, I think those bats are the darnest cutest things on this planet.. then again, my friends think I'm real strange for pointing to a snake and going AWW LOOK AT THOSE BIG EYES.

Cool pictures. We have a ton of turkey vultures in my town.. they are huge and look like hawks from the ground. Owls are definitely some of the coolest birds of prey too.
Awesome job.

[catawhat75]

I think there is a correlation between liking reptiles and liking bats b/c I adore bats too. I am seriously impressed by those little batty teeth.
That baby TV is HUGE! (and adorable even, at least for a TV).

[blackcrystal22]

I think there is a correlation between liking reptiles and liking bats b/c I adore bats too. I am seriously impressed by those little batty teeth.
That baby TV is HUGE! (and adorable even, at least for a TV).

Some people say their like rodents with wings but I don't quite believe that.
I don't know much about bats, so if they are rodents please forgive me.. but anything with canines like that doesn't look like a rodent bite for me. I'd rather risk handling one of those little guys and getting bitten over a huge rat!

Needle toothed evil..things..

[Reediculous]

Bats are pretty cool! especially since i'm Batman!

nice photos!

Bats have some really sharp teeth!

[OhBalls]

Look at those bat teeth! That large brown looks like he just heard a good joke!
Great pics, thanks for sharing them with us!

[Clementine_3]

I was pretty amazed when I saw them up close and personal (through the pictures anyway), I've always thought they were neat but never really realized they were that tiny, they look much bigger when they are flying I guess.
He showed me a print of a picture they took of a bat they had caught and while they were handling it they offered it a moth...which it ate! It clearly wasn't too stressful for them to be trapped and handled!
I've learned much about the little critters, and no, they are not rodents

[LadyOhh]

Too cool!!!!