Insectivorous Bat

I saw something crawling near the stone bench at my backyard, it was a bat!!! first I thought it was a fruit bat which is usually seen near my home. We have a mango tree & also a fig & silk cotton tree 300Mtrs away from my home. So, fruit bats are usual & sometimes they are seen hanging dead on electric wires. They make lot of noise at our backyard during night. But this was no time for fruit bat at my backyard as they are come during Mango seasons i.e Feb to June.

Dorsal View of Pipistrelle Bat

It was around 4-5 cms long from nose to tail & had a wingspan of 19-20cms.First I thought it was a Juvenile fruit bat & on close observing its mouth & nose portions it seemed to be different. It was very weak & had a shivering crawl . So, thought of feeding it with some fruits & tried feeding it in very tiny pieces but the bat refused to turn towards the fruit, So thought of feeding it honey mixed with little water by a filler. To my Luck !! it started sucking & drank nearly 3 tablespoons. I took some photographs & left to office, hoping it to be there when back for lunch.

When returned it wasn’t there & seemed to have climbed a small coconut tree top as told by my father.

I emailed the photo to Karthik for Idying & came to know that it was an Insectivorous Bat species Pipistrelle .

Pipistrelle Bat

Surprised & laughed that i tried feeding a Non-Veggie with Veggie food 😀 .. But the energy filled honey made it crawl for some safe place & hope it is in good shape.

Thanks for reading folks 🙂