Bats eating birds
Dec 8th, 2007 by Birdy Trish
When the swallows leave here in Autumn I sometimes wonder how they are managing far away from Yorkshire.
I have heard so many stories about migratory birds being trapped and captured. I have heard of the swallow’s food sources on their migration becoming scarce. Just the journey itself must be hard enough, especially for the older swallows
The most amazing thing I have heard is that in Southern Spain swallows and other migrating birds have another problem to contend with - bats
Bats eat birds!!!
The culprit is - Greater Noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus),
The Greater Noctule Bat snatches birds from the dark night sky and eats them on the wing.
The Greater Noctule Bats wrap the bird between their wings and tail membrane and then eats it on the wing. There is no escape for the birds in flight.
This bat is ‘almost exclusively Mediterranean’. It seems to live in areas where migratory birds occur.
Research has shown that when birds are not migrating (in summer) the Bat’s blood composition falls inside the ‘pure invertebrate diet’ range.
In Autumn the study showed the blood composition of the bat fell inside the ‘Pure bird range’. This is a time when migratory birds are on the move.
It’s amazing to me that the swallows that nest near my house in summer may end up as a meal for a bat.
Information from: Publishing Science, accelerating research
[...] One of the dangers they face is being eaten by a bat! [...]