Story time

Once upon a time, there was a family in Mesa, Arizona. The dad didn't like the palm trees in the family's front yard, but the mom and the girlie liked them because many interesting birds lived in them. They convinced the dad not to have the trees trimmed too often so that the bids would have safe places to nest.

After a time, the interesting birds moved out and birds like grackles and starlings took over and moved in. The yard got messy and the dad became more disgruntled. Finally, the mom and girlie relented and the dad found some brave, agile people to clean up the trees.

When the yard was FULL of green and brown palm fronds, one of the brave workers came to the family to show them what he'd found. It was a bat! It was a lovely bat, but she was very frightened, as her safe home had just been made unsafe! When she was released, everyone was amazed to see a tiny baby fall from the mama. The mama flew away, and the baby crawled into a shady spot and lay quietly.

Quick as a wink, the mom went to the computer and found the right rescue group to help. She carefully scooped up the little baby bat and then the mom and girlie drove to Paradise Valley to a waiting bat rescuer.

This kind woman explained that the bat was a Western Yellow Bat, a Lasirius Xanthinius. The baby appeared to be a female, so the girlie dubbed her "Sunny". The rescuer said she would care for and feed Sunny and try to release her when she was old enough. She showed them some other bats, Mexican Freetail bats, that she was caring for. She told the mom and girlie about echolocation and showed them the special part in Sunny's ear that would help her find bugs to eat.

The mom and the girlie thanked the kind rescuer and drove home, knowing that Sunny would be well cared-for. Hooray for bug-eating bats! Hooray for kind people who help them! Hooray for Mother Earth and her wild and fantabulous diversity!

The End