Kestrel chasing a bat! (1 Viewer)

[Julie50]

Hi all,

I just saw a female kestrel try to make a meal of a bat, is this usual behaviour? Wednesbury, West Midlands, UK today about 6.30pm.

 

[aeshna5]

I've seen Kestrel, Hobby & Sparrowhawk pursue bats over the years, but only on the odd occasion.

 

[01101001]

I've seen Kestrel, Hobby & Sparrowhawk pursue bats over the years, but only on the odd occasion.

Was any of those chases successful?

 

[davewalters]

A female Peregrine regularly chased dusk Bats on my old patch of the Witton Flashes 30 odd years ago. Mostly seemed to be Brown-long Eared but perhaps only because they were the first out in the evening. Successful a few times.
Dave

 

[aeshna5]

Was any of those chases successful?

From memory I think at least a couple were.

 

[DaveN]

A couple of years ago I saw a Peregrine take out a bat. This was in the middle of the day, so I presumed the bat had been disturbed from a roost somewhere.

 

[KC Foggin]

Speaking of bats we had a nursing home invaded by a family of Bats today in South Carolina.

 

[Xenospiza]

Yesterday I saw a Merlin trying but failing to catch a Common Noctule.

 

[01101001]

Do you ID them down to the species level by behaviour & habitat, or do you have one of these mics/detectors?

 

[dantheman]

Don't forget Bat-eating Falcons of course (not that I've seen one).

Falcons have good eyesight - it's been discovered that surprising numbers habitually hunt at night/dusk (eg remains of night-flying bird migrants in Peregrine eyries)

 

[dantheman]

Speaking of bats we had a nursing home invaded by a family of Bats today in South Carolina.

Probably looking for fresh-ish victims ... I'm guessing this is a tabloid-type panic news story (although rabies probably a real worry down that way)

 

[Xenospiza]

Do you ID them down to the species level by behaviour & habitat, or do you have one of these mics/detectors?

It is the standard bigger bat to be about by day at this time of year...

 

[greer3]

Saw a Merlin catching bats in Cuba. Just as darkness was falling it perched on the roof of a hotel building every night in the same spot.
It was waiting for the hundreds of bats to appear and had no problems catching them. It was like shooting fish in a barrel