The City Bats of Rio

Jordi | Feb. 12, 2023, 12:37 a.m. | Brazil

Today was a quiet day of studying and working while we are in Rio de Janeiro, and in the evening, we were lamenting the weather being rainy, which was just enough for us to decide not to take a walk to the beach a couple blocks away. While staring longingly out the rainy window, I noticed something fly by our window - a flash of a shadow that was cast by the streetlight outside. A few minutes later, I noticed it again. It seemed strange that there would be birds flying by our window at night, and I've noticed bats flying over the beaches at night... so I sat by the window for a closer to look. And I was absolutely delighted to discover that there were bats constantly flying into and out of the trees on our street! We are staying in a second floor apartment so we have a perfect view into the trees and the streetlights with insects buzzing around them that the bats sometimes dive around to hunt. We got out our phones out and took some slow motion videos, and I was surprised how well that worked! Made me feel like Merlin Tuttle! If you don't know, Merlin is a conservationist and one of the world's foremost bat photographers (honestly worth a look)! Anthea and I listened to an Ologies podcast episode on a road trip once where the host, Alie Ward, interviews Merlin, and it was an amazing listen! Anthea and I both went from casually thinking bats were cool to being absolute sky puppy fanatics! Anyway, here's some videos of these bats absolutely vibing and thriving in the wild tropical urban paradise that is Rio!