11th January 2017: Bat hunting!

After several bat sightings during the week, (all of which I never managed to see), and only one day left in city centre Melbourne, J realised that my time to see a bad was growing short. Finally, after a dose of the puppy eyes, I managed to persuade my family to take me to FitzGerald park see them myself last night. The air was crisp and cool, the moon was hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds, and the local witches were flying low on their brooms; it was a perfect night for bat hunting. I was hoping to catch a sight of a bat or two, snap a few picks and tick off "bats" from my birdwatching list. (OKAY, okay, whilst they may not actually be birds, they needn't conform to the labels society pushes upon them. It's 2017, you know! #Batscanbebirdsiftheywantto #Bepoliticallycorrect) Anyway, the bats didn't disappoint.

There's a theory that everything's bigger in Australia (spiders, BBQs, sharks) and let me tell you, there's a reason why this species are called flying foxes! The wingspans ranged from 30 centimetres to a metre, and they would swoop low across the sky, right over our heads. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I was shocked at how "bat like" they were - like, the literal Halloween cutout silhouette. Anyway, to inform you of these wonderful species, here's a fact file about these awesome bats that I, err, made up- I mean FOUND:

Name: Flying Fox
Species: "Grey Necked" Australian flying foxes
Colouring/markings: Our team of specialists couldn't see... it was dark, duh!
Food: Well, it accepted the beer we offered it...
Additional info: These flying foxes were originally based in the Botanical gardens of Melbourne, but were deemed too destructive to the flora and fauna there. The whole flock was moved, several years ago, by the use of incredibly loud percussion music blasted through incredibly big speakers. (True) The bats said they preferred Shakira.
Fun fact: They, unlike most bats, do not use echolocation. (True) Instead, they just scream really loudly and fly into things. (Less true)

Sorry for the blurry pics - as you can tell, 30 minutes standing in the cold didn't really give us any good pictures.