Head to Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL, and enjoy a night full of bats! Sounds scary, I know, but Barbara does a great job explaining the importance of bats and debunking bat myths before you head out to the garden deck to watch the bats emerge right after sundown.
The deck area has a perfect view of the full moon lit sky, which is perfect for bat spotting. Using a “bat detector,” which lowers the pitch of bat calls, we were able to hear the bats and learn the different patterns of each species’ call. We got to hear all seven bat species prevalent in our area; evening bat, little brown bat, big brown bat, hoary bat, silver haired bat, eastern red bat, and tri-colored bat. As the night went on, we were able to distinguish between different bats flying overhead and watch as they swooped over the pond searching for a midnight snack.
