I stayed late in the park on Sunday, to watch the Eastern Red Bat fly out. It had returned to the exact same branch as on Saturday. It flew out around 7:55.

On Saturday an Eastern Red Bat was roosting low in a bush by the Central Park Loch overlook. It was sleeping. April is a great time to look for Eastern Red Bats roosting in Central Park. We’ve found them multiple years roosting low in bushes during the month. They also often seen hunting during the day during early April in the park.

I’m seeing Eastern Red Bats frequently about an hour before dusk around Turtle Pond in Central Park. I suspect with shorter days, and winter approaching they’re eating all they can and risking being out earlier.

An Eastern Red Bat has been roosting in the same bush for a few days in Central Park.  Tonight I stayed to watch it wake up.  The video is a bit long, but it’s fascinating to see the bat slowly wake up.  It ended up flying right over my head when it left.

A sleeping Easter Red Bat in Central Park’s Ramble today, in a bush at eye level. Great find by Janet Wagner.

One of the joys of a warm winter’s day is finding an Eastern Red Bat hunting or perched on a tree. While Eastern Red Bats usually hunt at night, they will hunt during the day on a warm winter’s day.

Today, was such a day.  Erika Piik found one flying in the Maintenance Field which is in The Ramble around 78th Street west of the East Drive.  The bat would hunt insects for 30 minutes and then perch for a similar amount of time.  It perched once on a tree trunk and once on tree branch.  While flying it avoided being eaten by a Cooper’s Hawk, not once but twice! 

In addition to photographing the bat, I was able to get nice recordings.