To go bat watching, you will need a small flashlight or headlamp. If possible, place red cellophane over the lamps and flashlights. It helps reduce the amount of light that the forest animals see, and this will make it easier to spot animals in the dark.
The ideal time of year to go bat-watching is late summer, when the children don’t need to wake up early in the morning and when the days are gradually getting shorter. This makes the evening a little earlier.
To find bats, visit a local pond or wetland. This is where the mosquitoes live, so this is where the bats visit. Go to the area just before dusk. Bring snacks like warm milk: this is totally unnecessary for bat watching, but very necessary to keep everyone warm and well-fed!
Sit fairly still in the same place. Lie down if you can. Watch in the trees and plants and shine the red light flashlights over the water in the pond. If there are bats there, they will flit from place to place, often looking like a moth as they pass by.
The bats have superb echolocation skills and will not get caught in your hair. Sit still and watch them for a while.
If the children are interested in following up and doing research and conservation work related to bats, they can build a bat house and ask a conservation agency to place it near a local pond. Bats need small cavities to nest in, and those old trees and rocky crevices disappear when natural areas are developed.
The children can also investigate how bats hunt for food through echolocation. Some moths also have the ability to deflect and obscure bat sounds. Bat echolocation is an excellent topic for an animal research project!
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