Bat Food

[tncaver]

Tonight I just saw a moth flying around in the light from my deck. It's 41 degrees outside. I've seen more insects
flying around in cold weather this winter than ever before. Is this normal? Could this have anything to do with
bats flying around in cold weather as well? No. I have not seen any bats flying around. Only insects. This is in
middle Tennessee.

[Joseph W. Dixon]

Temperate bat species actually move periodically during hibernation (i.e. to different roosts within the same cave). Also, bat hibernation is closely tied with ambient air temperature. So hypothetically if the air temperature increased enough bats may come out of hibernation early and leave the hibernacula in search of prey during a winter warm spell. In addition, many species of insects attempt to survive the winter by undergoing diapause (think of it as a bug's version of hibernation, though it is a lot different). Diapause is often tied to specific environmental factors (i.e. ambient air temperature). So, hypothetically some bugs (such as your moth) may come out of diapause early in response to the same winter warm spell.

This is all just conjecture on my part...

[tncaver]

Well, now it's August. And there are oodles of bats flying around catching insects every night around sundown. Just as many
bats as I've seen every year I've lived here. But, they are probably all tree dwelling bats.

[Ralph E. Powers]

Well, now it's August. And there are oodles of bats flying around catching insects every night around sundown. Just as many
bats as I've seen every year I've lived here. But, they are probably all tree dwelling bats.

Well stay away from the trees because we wouldn't want white nose to spread to those either. (kidding)

Yah I've been enjoying watching the bats fly around my place as well... the sun hasn't gone down totally and there is just enough light to watch a small group fly around... what is interesting is about an hour or so before there were swallows swooping and diving around, and a little bit before that you can see dragonflies doing their aerobatic stunts.
Almost like watching a stage by stage process of elimination of the mosquito population. A nice circle of predation going on.