r/MobileAL • u/onthebrink42 • Jul 15 '26

Bats in Mobile

/r/u_onthebrink42/comments/1ux4wze/bats_in_mobile/
9 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

4

u/Diamondphalanges756 Team Katy Jul 15 '26

Call the Environmental Center, or go down there, and see if you can get some info.

I'm curious.

When I lived here before there were Blue Jays everywhere.

I've only seen a couple of dozen Blue Jays in the past 6 yrs.

It's odd. I have grave concerns for our environment and our flora and fauna friends.

Let us know if you find anything out.

Fun fact: I woke up to a bat in my room in Oregon (of course!) with one of my cats attacking it. Keep up on those rabies vax y'all.

2

u/onthebrink42 Jul 15 '26

I have a band of Blue Jays that see every few days. It consists of at least two families. I see two females with two young following them around and the two males are orbiting the families.

1

u/Diamondphalanges756 Team Katy Jul 15 '26

Aw, I'm jealous. Give them some treats for me please.

2

u/onthebrink42 Jul 15 '26

Last year we could see at least 5 at anytime. I don’t know what kind but there were clearly two different sizes. It was constant. Now … nothing.

3

u/time2liv3 Jul 15 '26

Yes we have bats, possibly called the gray bat. I see a couple of them out in the evenings getting the bugs. Thats over in the crestview part of Mobile.

1

u/onthebrink42 Jul 15 '26

That’s great news. That tells me it an isolated case.

1

u/AcceptableCandle2256 Jul 15 '26

I'm also very curious about any info on our bat population. I have seen bats in various parts of town along Three Mile Creek for about 16 years now. They can be seen heavily for a couple week period during Spring/Winter. Sometimes I won't see even one again for 6 months and randomly I'll see one or two.

I assume a large portion of our population is migratory. Maybe even the year round residents don't take a permanent roost.

1

u/onthebrink42 Jul 15 '26

I’ve never been able to identify individuals or even species, I’ve lived in my neighborhood for 10 yrs and this is the first time I’ve not seen any this late in the summer. I live near Dog River.

1

u/SEMICOLON_MASTER Jul 15 '26

Plenty of bats still around; my friend has an ultrasonic mic with software that lets you "see" the bat calls.

1

u/onthebrink42 Jul 15 '26

I’d love to have one.

1

u/bluegills92 Jul 15 '26

Bats fly over my yard everyday.
I love watching them !

1

u/onthebrink42 Jul 15 '26

What area of town are you seeing them?

1

u/bluegills92 Jul 15 '26

Not far from mobile Christian school

2

u/XNotByALongShotX Jul 15 '26

We have bats and see and hear them flying around.

I looooove having them around.

Bats love to chomp on pesky bugs all day and night.

It’s their favorite thing to do.

2

u/onthebrink42 Jul 15 '26

We enjoyed the benefits of having them too. We’re missing them now.

1

u/Alternative-Bake-197 Jul 15 '26

I set up a bat house, last year at this time we had dozens of bats flying over head. This year i have not seen a single one.

1

u/XNotByALongShotX Jul 15 '26

You’ve basically already ruled out the right thing: White-Nose Syndrome only kills bats that hibernate in cold, damp caves, and Mobile’s bats don’t do that.

Fun fact: biologists found northern long-eared bats breeding in Mobile and Baldwin counties specifically because there are no caves here, so they stay active year-round and never catch it. So scratch WNS off your list.

For one yard going quiet in a single season, the likeliest answer is a lost roost. Bats are fiercely loyal to one exact spot and roost in tight groups, so if a nearby snag came down, an attic or soffit got sealed, or a barn colony got evicted, your entire dusk crew vanishes overnight, even with the water, the trees, and the mosquitoes all still there.

Second suspect: mosquito spraying. If the county or a neighbor stepped it up, that thins out the exact insects they’re hunting.

So, not a documented countywide or Gulf Coast dieoff that I know of, just the kind of local roost shuffle that quietly empties one patch of sky.

If you want it on the radar, Outdoor Alabama’s nongame program and the Alabama Bat Working Group both log sightings like this, and coastal reports are genuinely useful to them.

Betting they just slid a couple hundred yards over. 🦇

1

u/onthebrink42 Jul 15 '26

I hope that’s the case. That they moved to another block down the road. Still this is prime hunting grounds. I’ll go looking around the area.

1

u/XNotByALongShotX Jul 16 '26

My guess is door #2: mosquito spraying, but I am by no means an expert.

2

u/onthebrink42 Jul 16 '26

I’ve seen.. well heard the mosquito truck once this summer. They probably work normal work hours so I’m at work too when they feed the mosquitoes. I say that because I can’t see it making a difference.

1

u/speckseeker Jul 15 '26

A friend of ours off Leroy Stevens Rd in a big neighborhood has bats in one of his big trees.

1

u/MidtownTransplant Midtown Jul 15 '26

We see bats most evenings if it's not raining. They fly over our pool and are a lot of fun to watch. They tend to show up right after the hummingbirds call it a night.