Look who stopped by

A while ago a praying mantis was in our house to be exact in my bill basket. It was so much bigger than I really ever thought a praying mantis was. We got a container to catch it and to show the kids since they were out playing then. When they came in they were all awestruck by the creature that just popped into our house. We ended up letting him out into our front yard and took a few snaps.

Isn't he just great. Honestly he is huge.

What an incredible creature

Yesterday Austin was in the back yard with the dog and playing with a stick. He hit our yucca and there was a strange noise. He told hit it a few more times and out flew a bat. Now this was very exciting for us because we studied Bats last school yr after our trip to Carlsbad Caverns. The boys had adopted a bat and we learned about them through the ranger program there. The Caverns have Mexican free tail bats migrate there every yr. Through all of this we have come to appreciate what bats can do for us and what amazing creatures they are.
The yucca in our yard He flew into my wisteria vine and hung out there the rest of the day. It was so hard to get a picture of him because I didn't want to disturb him anymore then we already had. They are pretty fragile creatures
We thought it was a bumble bee bat or a fruit bat. At any rate its a small bat.

The boys looking at the bat. I made sure they were very quiet.

Here are some other sites you may want to check out.
http://www.batcon.org/home/default.asp

http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/bats/index.htm

http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/bats.php

http://www.cccoe.k12.ca.us/bats/

http://www.bats4kids.org/

http://www.eparks.org/wildlife_protection/wildlife_facts/bats/bat_house.asp

Vanessa