Outdoor Nature Study: bats

Probably two weeks ago, when there was a hint of warmness, I watched a little brown bat flying above the pasture as I fed the horses. How perfect, then, that this week's mammal study involved the bat!
And certainly by coincidence an episode of "The Magic School Bus" this week was about bats.
Not only did we use Anna Comstock's "Handbook of Nature Study," but also "Night Science for Kids" by Terry Krautwurst. Hayes also read a couple of KidDomain.com printouts about the anatomy and life cycle of bats.
Did you know:
- Bats make up 1/4 of all mammals in the world!
- Bats don't flap their wings like birds, but instead "swim" through the air.
- Of the 1,000 different kinds of bats in the world, 43 species live in the United States.
The little brown bat I saw is only 3 to 4 inches long and weighs maybe 1/4 of an ounce. It still can eat half its weight in insects and I am cool with that.
Yesterday was our last warm day after a morning rainstorm. Surprisingly, Hayes found three crawfish in the creek! Today it snowed and there's more snow to come.


I find it so funny now that she'll collect crawfish. Four years ago, she came across a crawfish while wading in our very small creek in Georgia. She screamed "LOBSTER!" so loudly that the next door neighbor came running.