GOING BATTY IN A NUDIST CAMP

 When I was in junior high school, I found a live bat lying on the sidewalk. Evidently it was sick, and of course all advise not to touch a sick bat lying on the ground. But I had never seen a bat in real life before, and was fascinated. I captured it in a jar, brought it into the house, and put it into an empty bird cage. It lived for two days, then died. At one point, though, it had climbed up onto the side of the wire cage and hung there. I wanted to be able to say that I had touched a bat, so I touched its foot with my finger. It then let out a shriek so loud that I jumped halfway across the room. I had thought they made only high pitched sounds for echolocation while flying--nothing like this.

From then on I continued to be interested in bats, and, as an adult, joined Bat Conservation International. I still have my collection of the organization's "Bats" magazine. Also I ordered plans for building a bat house. We lived in the Lake Bronson Club near Sultan, Washington, at the time, and there I finally put these plans to use. In the camp's newsletter we advertised a free seminar in building bat houses. Our neighbor, Chuck, ran the camp's woodshop, and I bought some lumber and had him cut pieces beforehand for making a dozen bat houses. A number of people turned out for the event, and we put together the houses on the stage near the lodge. Afterwards we got a long ladder and went around the lake, using wire to fasten the houses high enough in the trees not to be bothered by anyone. The instructions said to be patient for the bats to move in, but that they would eventually.

After more than twenty years, I wrote to the Lake Bronson Family Nudist Club on Facebook and asked them if the bat houses are still there.  They answered right away, saying, "We have a variety of bat houses around the lake and lots of wonderful bats. It seems though that they prefer the old 'teen center' next to the tennis courts as their home of choice.  The bats do a great job of keeping the bug population to a minimum."  Word has it that one bat can eat five hundred mosquitoes each night. I like bats.

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