Pennsylvania Game News - August 2022 - 38

our logo. The initial membership fee was 50
cents, with a dime for refreshments at the
weekly meeting. Each member received a
cigar box painted in colors of dusk and the
logo on the lid. Inside was a membership
card and a stack of oaktag cards on a binder
ring for recording field notes and posing
questions at the weekly meeting.
We began with field studies by posting
at the last three streetlights on Boyer Street,
starting with the one at the dead end, the
one at the corner of my yard and the next,
a half-block down at the alley intersection.
The streetlights were of the old style, a clear
incandescent globe beneath an aluminum
radial wave reflector. The light was fastened
to a bracket arm and mounted to the wooden
utility pole at every intersection.
The first thing we discovered was that
we had a large population of bats. You had
to be quick, but as many as a half-dozen
different bats cold be counted at one time as
they hawked insects within the cast of light.
We also learned that there were more insects
flying around than we could ever imagine.
By climbing the big, ancient apple tree
directly across from the streetlight in my yard
and moving out onto a limb I was afforded
a closer, eye-level view. I now was able to
see them capture insects by using both wing
and tail together, or only with their mouths.
Our membership grew steadily until we
had nine members. One Saturday, we all
rode the trolley to the enormous hobby shop
downtown. In the center of the main floor
was a large island of wooden bins that held
hundreds of different animals made from
rubber or plastic. We found a detailed fullsize
rubber bat with suction cups that could
be affixed to a mirror or window. They were
50 cents apiece, but because we bought 10
the proprietor gave us a 15-cent discount on
each. When we told him they were for our
Bat Club, he laughed and gave us two more
for free. We used vinyl stick-on letters to
place the BSBC monogram in the webbing
between each " finger " on the wing.
The next thing we needed to know was
38
where the bats roosted. After much scouting,
one member discovered that some bats
roosted in the cavernous brick trolley barns
near his house. At dusk we watched them
leave the barn, but a three-story building on
the same property, facing the trolley stop,
was the better roost. It had a wooden attic
façade with several planks missing from
which dozens of bats emerged like dark
smoke.
Another notable event was when a
member's uncle who was working on his
home had accidentally crushed a bat sleeping
behind a loose shutter. He pinned it out
on a piece of cardboard to show us before
disposing of it. We were stunned by its
diminutive size.
Without touching it, we used a magnifying
glass to study the texture of its body fur
and the finer hairs on the inside of the wings.
We marveled at the tiny teeth and feet, its
keen beady eyes, and the architecture of its
wondrous ears that enable them to " see " in
total darkness the configuration of specific
prey through echolocation. I carefully traced
its outline and took several snapshots and
measurements. Little brown bats exuded
so much life even though they were only
3-inches tall with a 10-inch wingspan.
With nine members gleaning sources of
information, along with a few helpful adults,
our knowledge base expanded quickly.
BSBC watchers learned that there were
more bats and insects on the upper dead end
of the street than there were several blocks
away. This was due, we figured, to the fact
that there was a woods across the street
from those last several houses. Habitat was
important.
One of the things we compiled was a
bat " Fact or Folklore " sheet that listed the
benefits of bats, along with the many false
beliefs that had persisted for so long. We had
a stack of mimeographed copies printed and
stuffed them in mailboxes.
It was surprising how many people clung
steadfastly to those old myths, though, and
even more incredulous how they persist
Pennsylvania Game News - August 2022

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