By Charla Wurm-Adams
cwurm@wbcowqel.com
An out-of-place red bat was the hot topic at the Crawford Park District’s nature hike Sunday afternoon at Sears Woods and Nature Preserve.
This eastern red bat was curled up in a shingle oak tree when in fact it should have been at least 500 miles closer to a warmer climate according to Warren Uxley, Crawford Park District’s naturalist who led the hike.
“Right now we are looking at a Red Bat. He is hiding in a small Shingle Oak which is still holding his leaves, so it’s providing some shelter for him,” Uxley said. “He’s here kind of late and it’s getting really cold right now and it’s not good. We will have to see, hopefully he will make it.”
Uxley also noted an abundance of red-headed woodpeckers on the hike.
“Both the red oaks and the beeches have produced huge nut crops, so we had a lot of red-headed woodpeckers,” Uxley said. “ Next year probably not so many, but those trees don’t produce good crops two years in a row, so, but this year is great.
Hikers also saw several other birds including an owl and a pileated woodpecker in addition to wild turkeys.