after biodiversity day, toni and i met up with christoph and headed for lienz [G], for the opening of austria’s first permanent bat exhibition: geschöpfe der nacht (creatures of the night) at schloss bruck (bruck castle) in lienz.
on the way there we had a look at two nursery roosts of the greater mouse-eared bat (myotis myotis; grosses mausohr). from what we could tell, it didn’t seem like they had given birth yet*, but when i checked my photos later on, i found a little baby bat!
* all austrian bat species give birth in the first half of june, but due to winter lasting until last week, they postponed birthgiving, waiting for a better climate to raise their young.
several hundred visitors came to see the opening, presentation and bat night. but again, it was too cold so we didn’t catch a single one.
luckily, we still had a backup bat (augibunde) to present :-)
[view photos: nursery roosts of myotis myotis]
[view photos: creatures of the night exhibition, lienz]