Video by David and Laura Hughes
It isn't just hummingbirds that visit hummingbird feeders! If you live in the southwestern U.S. or points south, you might have some mighty strange after-hours visitors. These are Mexican Long-tongued Bats, Choeronycteris mexicana, which feed primarily on nectar and pollen. Obviously, they have learned about the sweet stuff dispensed by hummingbird feeders, too.
This animal has an amazingly long tongue - up to a third of the bat's total length. It's well named. Mexican Long-tongued Bats range from northern Central America north through Mexico, reaching their northern limits in southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Laura and David Hughes made this video back in August, when in Arizona. It's certainly worth sharing, and as always, I appreciate their outstanding videography and that they let me share their work here.
3 comments:
Wow. Fascinating.
More hummingbats here http://www.davidrintoul.com/photo_album.1.html and http://www.davidrintoul.com/photo_album.2.html
Where I live, our biggest problem is squirrels. I've managed to thwart them so far with this yankee flipper squirrel proof bird feeder. Maybe you need one of these for bats? (which are thought to be the next significant vector for rabies!)
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