Na na na na na na na... BAT WEEK!
Much maligned but beautiful and beneficial, it's time to honor that most Halloween-y of pollinators.
By Lisa Brunette
One of the best aspects of living in the Midwest again is the frequent bat show. Just about every summer evening at dusk, we’re treated to a near-nonstop stream of bats performing aerials over our garden. I like to think they come for the bug smorgasbord and are a result of our extensive native plantings, but I can’t prove this, at least not scientifically. Anecdotally speaking, though, it’s enough to make a bat lover squee.
So I thought I’d offer a bonus third post this week to psych us all up for Bat Week, October 24-31. What’s Bat Week? “An annual, international celebration of the role of bats in nature.” You can attend an event, check out these cool videos, engage in bat-themed activities with your kids, build a bat house, and more.
While I don’t mind turning your attention to them in anticipation of Halloween, as they loom large in our imaginations from our enduring vampire myths, bats don’t really deserve their reputation as bloodsuckers. Contrary to pop-culture depictions, only three of the more than 1,400 species of bats feast on the red stuff, and they prefer bird blood, actually. So carry around a string of garlic if you want for the aromatic quality, but do not fear the bat.
One thing I’ve learned here on my bat journey is that they are key pollinators, especially of cacti and agave, but also of the fruiting passionflower vine we grow in our garden. When they drink nectar from a flower, they pick up its pollen on their bodies, carry it with them, and leave it on the next bloom. Bats are also important for seed dispersal, eating fruit in one area and then dropping the seeds elsewhere… in their droppings. With habitat destruction happening at exponential rates, this little utility feature built into bats becomes even more important.
I grow evening primrose, a Missouri native. It started as one plant and has self-seeded like crazy; in fact, I’d say primrose really had its moment in 2022. True to its name, evening primrose blooms at night, and it’s also pollinated by bats, nocturnal creatures. Since this plant is the source of the popular evening primrose oil known for curing—ahem—lady problems, all this blooming, pollinating, and seed dispersal is totally welcome. Talk about blood… Ew, too much?
These furry flyers—the only flying mammals, by the way—are more than worthy of our love and admiration. We need them for healthy ecosystems that support our own lives and lifestyles, and increasingly, they need us to maintain their habitats for survival.
One way to get into the Halloween spirit and show your support for bats at the same time is to order one of these spooktacular, Edward Gorey-style T-shirts from Bat Conservation International.
Hafta admit, I’m a sucker for anything Edward Gorey, so I splurged on a couple of these for me and Anthony. So now we’ll be one of those couples wearing matching shirts. It’s more than I usually pay for a T-shirt, addicted to clearance racks as I am, but it’s worth it to lend a helping hand to bats, which we need in our future… in order to even have a future. And no, we don’t get a commission if you buy the shirt; just happy to spread the word.
Speaking of helping hands, did you know that bat “wings” are actually appendages, like our human hands? Learn more about bats at Bat Conservation International.
And now I’d like to end by giving a hand to the bat researchers who work tirelessly to study, conserve, and educate others. (Clap, clap, clap…)
Happy Halloween!
I did not know that bats pollinate evening primrose! That is way cool. We love to watch the bats swooping around above us on summer evenings. One of our kids made a bat house a few years ago, but we failed to research well enough on where to place it. Turns out that bats don't like to live in a group of pine trees.