Night riding, attacks by bats!

PandA said:

Hi,

The strangest thing happened to me the other night. I was doing a short
ride around my local area (on Brisbanes Bayside) and as I was riding through
a particularly dark spot, a bat flew at my headlamp and started to bite and
scratch at it as it hung from the handle bar. (I just about shat myself
-) )

I would have leapt off the bike and run screaming into the night, never
to commute again. Suddenly the snakes along the Yarra don't seem so scary.

DaveB "oh great, tonight I'll be dreamign about bats"

wow, wierd. Im in Melbourne we got some bats about in the parks, I mostly see them when I'm out running (at night). For me seeing bats it's kinda more comforting than birds. Birds can attack you (like Maggies in Spring), bats never do - I am speaking from personal experience though.

Do you look like a fruit? Aren't they fruit bats?

Quoted message said:

I would have leapt off the bike and run screaming into the night, never
to commute again. Suddenly the snakes along the Yarra don't seem so scary.

Have any cyclists been bitten by snakes on the Yarra? I've nearly run over tiger snakes on a couple of occasions - one huge one scared the life out of me and left me buzzing on adrenaline for 45 minutes - they've reared up and threatened me, even within a few inches of my ankle, but I've not been hit yet.

I believe they are fruit bats

They hang out (literally) in the mangroves by the creek(stormwater drain)
that flows out to the bay

Each evening just before sunset a squadron of bats leave the mangroves in
search of food.
(which they either drop because its too heavy to fly with - akka many half
chomped mangoes and passionfruit in my yard, or digest which eats the paint
off my car/house/clothes if i've left them on the line)

I don't think me, my bike or headlight look overly like fruit... (I may be
mistaken from a bats point of view though)

Maybe my handle bar just looked like a fun fast moving branch to hang from.

Are fruit bats omnivorous?

Andrew

"Marx SS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

wow, wierd. Im in Melbourne we got some bats about in the parks, I
mostly see them when I'm out running (at night). For me seeing bats
it's kinda more comforting than birds. Birds can attack you (like
Maggies in Spring), bats never do - I am speaking from personal
experience though.

Do you look like a fruit? Aren't they fruit bats?

--
Marx SS

On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 at 00:38 GMT, Huw (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I would have leapt off the bike and run screaming into the night, =

never=20

Quoted message said:

to commute again. Suddenly the snakes along the Yarra don't seem so =

scary.

Quoted message said:

=20

Have any cyclists been bitten by snakes on the Yarra? I've nearly run =
over tiger snakes on a couple of occasions - one huge one scared the =
life out of me and left me buzzing on adrenaline for 45 minutes - =
they've reared up and threatened me, even within a few inches of my =
ankle, but I've not been hit yet.

I'm never riding along the Yarra again.

And here I was, obvlivious to the threat.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
cat ~/.signature
Passing cosmic ray (core dumped)

Quoted message said:

I believe they are fruit bats

Perhaps a black flying-fox. "Flying-fox" is again the
preferred common name, because "fruit bat" implies a dietary
preference that isn't entirely accurate, and incurs a
certain prejudice.

A black (or maybe grey-headed, or even little red - all three
occur in Brisbane) flying-fox is a pretty large animal -
about 1m wing span, 0.5 - 1kg. Sounds like you've seen them
hanging in the trees during the day. Are you sure it was
that big? There are at least half a dozen species of little
insectivorous bats common in Brisbane too, ranging from about
mouse-sized up to maybe twice or three times that. At least
one sometimes lands to catch food.

Weird behaviour though. Maybe it was sick. Weren't scratched,
were you? Flying-foxes rarely carry a nasty disease - a close
relative of rabies. If scratched, even slightly, you should
seek immediate medical advice.

Quoted message said:

Are fruit bats omnivorous?

I guess they would eat insects, when available.

PandA said:

I believe they are fruit bats

They hang out (literally) in the mangroves by the creek(stormwater drain)
that flows out to the bay

Each evening just before sunset a squadron of bats leave the mangroves in
search of food.
(which they either drop because its too heavy to fly with - akka many half
chomped mangoes and passionfruit in my yard, or digest which eats the paint
off my car/house/clothes if i've left them on the line)

I don't think me, my bike or headlight look overly like fruit... (I may be
mistaken from a bats point of view though)

Maybe my handle bar just looked like a fun fast moving branch to hang from.

Are fruit bats omnivorous?

They do carry a dangerous disease whose name escapes me and I could not
spell if I could remember it, so try not to lick the parts of your bike
that they touch

Quoted message said:

Andrew

"Marx SS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

wow, wierd. Im in Melbourne we got some bats about in the parks, I
mostly see them when I'm out running (at night). For me seeing bats
it's kinda more comforting than birds. Birds can attack you (like
Maggies in Spring), bats never do - I am speaking from personal
experience though.

Do you look like a fruit? Aren't they fruit bats?

--
Marx SS

--
Remove norubbish to reply direct

Jack Russell

No I wasn't scratched thankfully, he/she/it (the bat) just brushed past my
arm (before I whipped it away (My arm not the bat)). I knew that some bats
carry some nasty diseases so I didn't want to swat at it with my hand to get
it off.

I was a fairly small one probably about 20 cm long and probably didn't weigh
much (it didn't tilt the bike or anything apart from me swerving all over
the road)

"Glen F" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I believe they are fruit bats

Perhaps a black flying-fox. "Flying-fox" is again the
preferred common name, because "fruit bat" implies a dietary
preference that isn't entirely accurate, and incurs a
certain prejudice.

A black (or maybe grey-headed, or even little red - all three
occur in Brisbane) flying-fox is a pretty large animal -
about 1m wing span, 0.5 - 1kg. Sounds like you've seen them
hanging in the trees during the day. Are you sure it was
that big? There are at least half a dozen species of little
insectivorous bats common in Brisbane too, ranging from about
mouse-sized up to maybe twice or three times that. At least
one sometimes lands to catch food.

Weird behaviour though. Maybe it was sick. Weren't scratched,
were you? Flying-foxes rarely carry a nasty disease - a close
relative of rabies. If scratched, even slightly, you should
seek immediate medical advice.

Quoted message said:

Are fruit bats omnivorous?

I guess they would eat insects, when available.

Quoted message said:

They do carry a dangerous disease whose name escapes me and I could not
spell if I could remember it, so try not to lick the parts of your bike
that they touch

Quoted message said:

Jack Russell

I'll keep that in mind ;-)

I've had them swooping into the headlight beam to eat moths ect out riding in the western deserts. Owls too (well nocturnal birds that looked owl like)

We used to have issues with bat roadkill when driving in the dunes at night too.. Just little bats mind. (not that size makes it any better..)

This about 300km was east of Wiluna.

Tom