Bats are brighter than birds

[CatOnAHotRadiator]

We had a bat in the conservatory last night. It was whizzing around like a loony. It was beautiful and their senses are so on point, it swooped right past me close enough to feel the breeze on my face but never touched me. Anyway, we turned off the lights, opened the door. And out it went immediately.

Compared to the birds that have occasionally come in that continue to bash at windows and I have to help out. They are of course still beautiful.

I’ve not been that close to one of our bats before, only admired them from our window as they hunt. They’re just amazing.

Ask a bat to fly using only it's eyes and it will fail. Ask a bird to fly only using echolocation and it will fail. They both have highly advanced navigational skills, they just use different mechanisms. Have you ever seen a bat use tools? Birds are definitely brighter than bats. Bats just have the ability to echolocate, which is very cool.

Bats are amazing. Birds are also amazing.

Corvids are ridiculously clever. Turkeys are dumb as rocks. Swifts can pluck tiny spiderlings out of the air at a mile high and feed 800 at a time to their chicks. Bats use echolocation to swerve and swoop in acrobatics that are wonderful to watch.

It’s ok to admire them all.

Ok I was being a bit facetious and only limiting it to birds in the conservatory. I’m constantly amazed by what birds can achieve in their own habitats. Just perhaps not when confronted with a glass room 👍

I work with bats in my job and i also do volunteer bat care as well and I agree they are amazing! I find my job and my volunteer work such a privilege, not many people get to see them up close and they really do need all the protection we can give

Pigeons are able to distinguish a Chagall from a Picasso! I’d like to see a bat try…

I know you’re only being facetious, so I’ll add that it’s really special when we have such close encounters with nature 😊 I also totally agree that bats are amazing. I love seeing them whizz around my garden. And even though I know how they manage to navigate, it never stops being impressive.

I did not know that. I love this fact. I’m quite fond of pigeons to be honest.

This book is full of fun facts about bird intelligence.

For some reason the facts about pigeons really stuck in my mind - as well as art connoisseurs, they’re the mathematicians of the bird world and they use smell to navigate the last few miles of their journey. They’re anything but pigeon brained!

Funnily enough, owls who are more often associated with intelligence, turn out to be pretty thick by human standards!

I once came upon a fledgling blackbird sitting on the dresser in my living room. It must have flown in through the patio doors and then thought: Doh... what? Where am I?

Baby blackbirds are startlingly dim-witted.

I think all wildlife is amazing, but bats are close to my heart for the silliest reason.

When I buried my mum over 30 years ago, I'd left the back door open after everyone left after the wake. I came inside to find a lone bat clinging to my kitchen wall. I put my mum's old gardening glove on one hand and gently encouraged it onto it with my other hand. It hopped on and as I moved my hand, I felt how soft its fur was. I took it out to the garden where it yawned then flew off.

It's really silly, but ever since then, whenever I see a bat, I think of my mum.

We're lucky that where we live (for the time being), I can switch the lights off then lean out of my bedroom window and watch them swoop and fly by. They sometimes come so close I can feel them whoosh silently past. Amazing little creatures.

I say for the time being because we're currently trying to stop a development going up on the woodland and fields behind us. They've looked into the bat population, but ours apparently aren't special enough. I've already posted on the hedgehog thread, so apologies for mentioning it again, but if anyone has any idea of how to try stopping a development, please let me know (we have a petition going but it's a small area so isn't gaining many names).

@agent765 contact your local wildlife trust for help.

Thank you @kinkytoes. I have tried them, and my MP. No reply from either.

I think I had my last bat sighting of the year last night, too. I'm just hoping we'll get to see them one more time next spring. Though our hedgehogs were around 10 minutes ago, and we had a bedraggled sparrow hopping from handle to handle on patio windows this afternoon. I think it wanted to come in to dry off!

Do you know where I could post a petition for more exposure?

I'm loving this. I wonder if the pigeons think the conservatory birds are total Philistines and the conservatory birds feel like the bats are Top Gun style jocks constantly buzzing them as they're desperately trying to find their way out of an open door