Saw the last part of a program on the Discovery channel last night. It was on
bats and the last five minutes had this incredible footage of a pair of
Red-tailed Hawks waiting outside a cave entrance for the daily evening flight
of the bats as they head out to feed for the night. With thousands of bats
densely packed it was good pickings for the hawks. They were swooping through
the groups of bats and grabbing them. At times they would fold their wings and
dive through the group and snatch a bat. I wouldn't have believed it if I
hadn't seen the footage.

I would imagine that this is an isolated case of a couple of smart Red-tails
who were seizing on an opportunity. I never thought of Red-tailed Hawks being
that opportunistic. Since the program was about bats they didn't talk much
about the hawks. I would love to know if the hawks were regular visitors at
this cave and if so if the bats made up a good percentage of their diet.

The program did end with a good note about the importance of bats in the
general scheme. Promoting bat conservation and appreciation is definitely an
uphill battle.


Jim Rosso
Issaquah,