Flying Foxes

     On a previous post I mentioned the huge bats that fly overhead at night when we are walking Jackson.  They are usually near the large fig trees that border the beach so we stay away from those areas at night.  They can get a bit "stuck" by a gust of wind on occasion and flap way too close to your head!  Disconcerting for sure.  The first day we moved into this house we saw this in the power lines out front.

Not a great photo.  We didn't think there was any way that was a bat!  Too big and hairy.  Of course it's a bat.  This happens a lot in Oz. 

That ginormous spider can't possibly be considered small for a Huntsman?  Of course it is! (They get as large as dinner plates!)

They can't possibly charge admission for parents to sit and watch swim practice?!  Of course they can.

There can't possibly be another gorgeous view around every corner?!  Of course there is!

I digress.

So, I researched these bats a bit.  They are called grey-headed flying foxes and are the largest in Australia.  They eat fruit and do not use echolocation (bat radar) so they have big eyes.  The average wingspan is 1 meter!  There is a colony of 22,000 of them that live in Sydney's Botanical Gardens.  They have been destructive to the plants there so in a few weeks they will attempt to remove them by  playing very loud industrial sounds and music.  Sounds pleasant.  Wonder if it will work?

Just hoping they don't move over here!

Some photos (not mine) to show what they look like.  The only ones I've seen during the day are dead on power lines.