Air Show!
Our even walks have recently taken on a new twist. We start out as a straggling group. Sydney is sniffing around on her "extension" leash, Colin sprints ahead looking for kids on the playground, Hari is somewhere in the middle and I'm bringing up the rear with Ryan, who is moseying along at his pokey 1-year-old pace, stopping to inspect sticks, bugs, sidewalk cracks, and other fascinating minutiae.
Assuming we make it past the playground (we often don't!) we then head toward the back of the development where there is a paved trail that goes behind the houses, back by the woods and the tennis courts. And it is there that we visit with our new friends... bats!
On most of our evening walks we end up at the back of the development right around dusk. We stop to look up, and we'll see one or two (or sometimes 8 or 9!) bats fluttering around, feasting on the local insect population. They swoop through the treetops, circle around by the houses, and sometimes make a dive right down by us! The closest they got was one night last week when they were flying around at eye-level, and I think one of them got within about 2 feet of my head! And yes, I am taking this opportunity to brag to Colin (and Ryan) about how wonderful bats are, eating all the bugs for us.
Hari, Colin and I will stand on the trail looking up (Ryan observes from his perch in my arms), and we watch the bats flying around as it is a local, nightly airshow. Frankly, I'll take our little personal aerial display over an "organized" airshow any day! They're much quieter than the Blue Angels, and I love hearing Hari's exclamations when they come too close, Colin's shouts "there they are!" and Ryan's pervasive squeals of delight. I have to admit that their swoops and aerial acrobatics are no less entertaining than watching the jets and fighter planes... and I don't miss the crowds and parking insanity at all. Hooray for bats!
Assuming we make it past the playground (we often don't!) we then head toward the back of the development where there is a paved trail that goes behind the houses, back by the woods and the tennis courts. And it is there that we visit with our new friends... bats!
On most of our evening walks we end up at the back of the development right around dusk. We stop to look up, and we'll see one or two (or sometimes 8 or 9!) bats fluttering around, feasting on the local insect population. They swoop through the treetops, circle around by the houses, and sometimes make a dive right down by us! The closest they got was one night last week when they were flying around at eye-level, and I think one of them got within about 2 feet of my head! And yes, I am taking this opportunity to brag to Colin (and Ryan) about how wonderful bats are, eating all the bugs for us.
Hari, Colin and I will stand on the trail looking up (Ryan observes from his perch in my arms), and we watch the bats flying around as it is a local, nightly airshow. Frankly, I'll take our little personal aerial display over an "organized" airshow any day! They're much quieter than the Blue Angels, and I love hearing Hari's exclamations when they come too close, Colin's shouts "there they are!" and Ryan's pervasive squeals of delight. I have to admit that their swoops and aerial acrobatics are no less entertaining than watching the jets and fighter planes... and I don't miss the crowds and parking insanity at all. Hooray for bats!
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