On January 3, 2011, the California Wildlife Center got a very interesting rescue call. A family living in a high rise apartment building in Santa Monica had noticed a large bat on the outside of their 14th story window screen. It had been there for a few days and they were worried something was wrong. They called CWC and a team responded and rescued it. It was a Big Free-tailed bat (nyctinomops macrotis). Our first at CWC! Big free-tailed bats roost mainly in crevices and rocks in cliff situations, although there is some documentation of roosts in buildings, caves, and tree cavities. Their weight ranges from 25-30 grams (ours was 16g upon arrival) and they have a wingspan of 17-18 inches. They are a seasonal migrant and a powerful flyer. Their only known doucmented predator is the owl. They forage almost entirely on large moths, but some data exists to document occasional foraging on other insects, including grasshoppers, beetles, crickets, leafhoppers, stinkbugs and flying ants.
Our bat did very well and was released back into the wild in Orange County closer to his kind.
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