Red Bat

We were walking with the dogs in our big field near dusk and glimpsed something red flying near the forest edge. Picking up our DLS twilight optimized binos (yes, they really do help us see better at dusk), we saw not a bird, but this incredible bat!! It was so beautiful as it swooped, flew and turned, and so red. Wow!
This was a Red Bat, who typically migrates to southern regions to winter. Made us wonder if we were seeing a migrant, or just one that was overwintering (a few may up north) and had emerged for an evening snack. The photo above I took last year on Oct. 31st. Sorry it's slightly blurry, but it's hard to photograph a bat in flight hand holding a camera. Could this be the same bat from last year? I feel so lucky to live in a place where I can see a Red Bat.

Photo © Lillian Stokes, 2006