Rabies is essentially unknown in the Pacific Northwest, with the notable
exception of bats. Bats are the only animals that can be infected with
rabies and still survive, all other mammals die fairly quickly. As such, bat
exposure carries a higher risk of rabies than other mammals, especially in
our neck of the woods. In addition, there have been cases where individuals
had exposure to bats in their bedrooms while asleep, had no history of
bites, and contracted rabies. How this happens is unclear, it is assumed
that there has been a small bite that went undetected. For this reason,
those who wake up to find a bat in their bedrooms qualify for rabies
innocluations.
This happened to Gov. Locke's family a few years ago; there were bats in the
govenor's mansion and one got into one of the kid's bedrooms. This also
happened to me on a trip to Mexico last year. We woke up to find a dead bat
in our bedroom. I went through all these gyrations trying to figure out how
to get this dead bat back to the states so it could be tested. Not being
versed in dead bat transportation, I wasn't sure if they wanted it fresh,
chilled, or frozen, in plastic or paper, etc. I called my clinic, who
called Snohomish County Health Department, who called the State Health
Department, who called the CDC in Atlanta. The word came back "Don't even
THINK about trying to bring that thing back". I thought I might get a tongue
lashing from the authorites if they found a dead bat in my luggage. Come to
find out, they take a VERY dim view of people knowingly bringing possibly
rabid animals into the country. The possiblity of incarceration was
mentioned. So we gave the bat a nice little funeral, came back home, and the
whole family got rabies shots. By the way, the shots are not as bad as
everyone thinks. Once they stopped using horse serum, you really don't get
sick from them. There are quite a few of them however, and the first dose is
a big one. They had to split my dose into eight syringes on day one, and I
didn't get them in the arm, if you know what I mean.
All that being said, the risk from bat exposure in our area is vanishingly
low. I would have no qualms about putting up bat boxes around our house,
even if I wasn't immunized. You are probably in more danger driving to the
store to get the bat box than you are with the box on your property. I
probably wouldn't put the box on the side of the house by on open window,
other than that you should be fine.
Oh yes, since this is a birding group, here is a list of birds from the
Mexico trip. I love Mexico, you just don't want to go to any place you have
ever heard of. Ixtapa, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas are full
of gringos and people trying to sell you things. Fly to those places, and
then head out to some out-of-the-way place. On the trip above we were in
Zihuatanejo and Troncones, two wonderful spots near Ixtapa. This June we
are gong to Yucatan, and staying in Merida, about three hours drive west of
Cancun. I will post a trip report if there is interest.
As per another Tweeters discussion, this is what Avisys will do for you.
Generating this repost took about 6 mouse clicks.

SPECIES SEEN ~ TRONCONES
All Dates ~ All Places ~ 69 seen
GREBES
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
GANNETS AND BOOBIES
Brown Booby
CORMORANTS
Neotropic Cormorant
DUCKS, SWANS, GEESE
Blue-winged Teal
HERONS, EGRETS AND BITTERNS
Reddish Egret
Tricolored Heron
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
IBIS AND SPOONBILLS
White Ibis
STORKS
Wood Stork
NEW WORLD VULTURES
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
HAWKS, EAGLES AND KITES
Great Black-Hawk
Gray Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
FALCONS AND CARACARAS
Crested Caracara
Peregrine Falcon
GUANS, CHACHALACAS AND CURASSOWS
West Mexican Chachalaca
RAILS AND COOTS
American Coot
JACANAS
Northern Jacana
SANDPIPERS
Western Sandpiper
AVOCETS AND STILTS
Black-necked Stilt
GULLS AND TERNS
Laughing Gull
Caspian Tern
PIGEONS AND DOVES
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
PARROTS
White-fronted Parrot
ANIS
Groove-billed Ani
OWLS
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
NIGHTJARS
Pauraque
HUMMINGBIRDS
Cinnamon Hummingbird
Plain-capped Starthroat
TROGONS AND QUETZALS
Citreoline Trogon
KINGFISHERS
Ringed Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
WOODPECKERS
Golden-cheeked Woodpecker
Gray-crowned Woodpecker
WOODCREEPERS
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper
TYRANT FLYCATCHERS
Vermilion Flycatcher
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Nutting's Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Thick-billed Kingbird
Social Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Rose-throated Becard
CROWS AND JAYS
White-throated Magpie-Jay
VIREOS AND ALLIES
Plumbeous Vireo
Warbling Vireo
WRENS
Rufous-naped Wren
Happy Wren
Sinaloa Wren
White-bellied Wren
GNATCATCHERS
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
NEW WORLD WARBLERS
Lucy's Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Fan-tailed Warbler
BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, TANAGERS, ALLIES
Stripe-headed Sparrow
Rosy Thrush-Tanager
White-collared Seedeater
Northern Cardinal
Blue Bunting
BLACKBIRDS, GRACKLES, ORIOLES
Yellow-winged Cacique
Streak-backed Oriole
Great-tailed Grackle
////---- STATISTICS ----/////
Species seen - 69


Jack Stephens, MD
Edmonds, WA
jstephens62 at comcast.net