One time, a bat got stuck in the sink. It was during a raucous night of staff bonding involving board games and whiskey under the glow of the barn light. We sat close together on a picnic table in the outdoor kitchen.
Moths plinked against the metal side of the barn beneath the lights with a sound like that of dripping water. The bat, in pursuit of a moth, plinked slightly louder against the wall and dropped into the big white sink below. The animal was hardly bigger than some of the moths under the lights. I only registered its fall because I had been staring at the lights overhead, entranced by the wildlife it attracted and — perhaps — the warm feeling of the whiskey.
When I shared my observation, several of us gathered around the sink and cautiously peered in. The bat was attempting, unsuccessfully, to climb up the smooth surface and escape his prison. He was dark brown and delicate. The skin of his wings seemed tissue paper thin, stretched across fingers of toothpicks. Sharp teeth and sharp eyes defined a miniature face beneath pointed ears.
And suddenly, the bat remembered that he could fly. He fluttered out of the sink in a burst of energy, and we all reeled backwards. The bat once again became a sporadic shadow, a piece of the fabric of the desert night that you barely notice. I wonder now if he avoids the moths that gather under the barn lights or if he has learned to turn more sharply.
Bats are one of the most successful mammals with over 1400 species worldwide, according to a U.S. Department of the Interior blog post from October 2021. This means that about ⅕ of all mammals are bats! Utah has 18 species of bats, all of which are insectivores, so if you are a Utah resident holding on to Twilight-esque vampire fantasies, you’ll need to look elsewhere. Small bats, like most of the species found in Utah, can catch more than 1,000 insects in an hour. A nursing mother bat might eat up to 4,000 insects in an hour, making her the ultimate Girlboss in my opinion.
Our bat in the sink was most likely the common Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus), which sounds like a name that belongs in a fashion article about the three things every woman should have in her closet. If you do happen to have a Little Brown Bat in your closet, contact a permitted wildlife control company to safely remove it. In Utah, the animal control company you choose to contact will coordinate with the Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) to determine the best time to move bats, especially if they are in a colony or hibernating. Killing bats is illegal in the U.S. under the Endangered Species Act. And if you take a moment to multiply 1,000 insects by the eight to ten hours in a summer night, you will want to invite bats to every barbecue!
