Saturday, 2 April 2016

B IS FOR BAT : A-Z Challenge

Welcome to Day 2 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme is:


'Wildlife Encounters'

When I moved to Fiji there were so many new experiences, every day seemed to herald a new distraction. I never tired of the novelty of sharing my garden with tropical birds, and I definitely never became blasé about the fruit bats – or flying foxes.

Fiji’s only indigenous mammals regularly disturbed our sleep, squabbling and fighting. Their nocturnal screeching sounded like an onslaught of banshees.

One of the windows in front of my writing desk had a papaya (pawpaw) tree directly outside.
I was working at my desk one evening when a bat landed on the tree in a swish of leathery wings, intent on feasting on my ripening papayas. 



I yelled at him to leave my fruit alone; I had been anticipating their imminent harvest.
He simply stared at me as if to say, "You looking at me?" 





Over several days I philosophically watched him demolish most of the ripe fruit on the tree. I was fascinated the first time I saw him awkwardly manoeuvre himself to an upright position in the branches in order to pee and poop.

Fortunately papayas grow like weeds in Fiji and I was able to harvest the fruit crop from other trees in due course.



See you on Monday - I'll be heading north east. Can you guess where and what the next animal will be? 



If you want to blog-hop to the next A-Z Challenge blog, please click HERE





32 comments:

  1. I've never had papaya - and certainly never seen a fruit bat in the wild! only in the zoo, and I feel sorry for them, never being able to follow the scents of ripening fruit on the air and clamber in the trees, and stare in through windows and curious fruit-owners! Great photos.

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  2. Thanks, Liz. The bats in Fiji are quite large with beautiful golden 'manes' - you can sort of see it's golden fur on the third photo down.

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  4. We have fruit bats in the Caribbean but they aren't all that big and don't have golden manes. We raise a baby once that fell out of it's nest. Lots of fun. And yes, they eat the papayas there too! Great shot.

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    1. Thanks, Bish. The bats became very much a part of my life in Fiji and although they pinched my papayas, I didn't really mind sharing my fruit with such wonderful creatures.

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  5. Great photos :) They look a bit different than the ones we have here though. The Truck Traveller

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    1. Thanks, Zeljka. With over a thousand species of bat, I'm not surprised my indigenous Fiji bat looks a bit different to yours. :)

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  6. Aha... you caught me out there! I thought you'd still be in Africa.
    NE? Canada? Caribou?
    PS - One of the very many nicknames I have for my good lady is Fruit Bat... don't ask, I don't know!
    AJ at Ouch My Back Hurts

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    1. No, I'm throwing in a bit of globe trotting while I'm at it! Fruit Bat for a nickname? The mind boggles. :)

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    2. Oops, forgot to add - you're in the right part of the world - but I'm going to keep you guessing whether you've got the right animal.

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    3. Indeed... the mind boggles! That's why I said don't ask!! :D

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  7. Such a cool theme! I'll definitely be back to see more wildlife encounters.

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    1. Thanks, Karen - I shall look forward to your comments.

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  8. Good photos! I remember being surprised to see papayas growing directly from the trunk in Tenerife. Not many fruit do that - or so I believe.

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  9. Thanks, Lizy. Now you come to mention it - I don't know if papayas are unique in growing directly from the tree trunk.

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  10. I like papayas, but I love bats. Cool little creatures.

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  11. I love bats because I think they are cute to be honest, even when they eat your fruit

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    1. Bats are underrated in the beauty stakes - but these fruit bats have the sweetest faces.

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  12. Wow. What a great story. http://ybdave.blogspot.com/2016/04/b-is-for-beast.html

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    1. Hi Dave, thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you'll check out more of my animal encounters over the month. :)

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  13. The bat probably thought he had "flying" squatter rights! :-)

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    1. Ha ha - well, as a Fijian native - he had more rights than me really!

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  14. Kids love Papaya. Mangos too. We eat a lot of tropical fruit. I like bats. They are pretty coll creatures.
    I’m exploring different types of dreams and their meanings during the #AtoZChallenge at Stephen Tremp’s Breakthrough Blogs

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    1. Hi Stephen, thanks for visiting my blog. Yes, I loved the tropical fruit and veg in Fiji. There's nothing quite like picking a fruit straight off the tree - the imported stuff I have to eat now doesn't come close in flavour.

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  16. Susan
    A fascinating post, but I got stuck on "unrepentant vagabond." Nice to meet you.
    Best Wishes
    Jo-Ann Carson
    www.lovindanger.wordpress.com (in the challenge)

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    1. Hi Jo-Ann, thanks for dropping in. Not sure what you mean by getting stuck on "unrepentant vagabond", but welcome to my blog and I hope you'll check out more of my wildlife encounters! :)

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  17. So neat! Until about a year or so ago, I admit that I thought that bats were something to avoid, but now I know that they are an important part of our ecosystem. It must have been amazing to see them up close :) I'd love to put up a bat house in our yard.

    Tracy (Black Boots, Long Legs)

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    1. Hi Tracy, thanks for visiting my blog. Bats get bad press sometimes as being scary animals, when they're not scary at all - they're wonderful. Good luck with your Challenge, and hope you'll check out more of my wildlife encounters.

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  18. The nearest thing encounter to fruit bats are the dreadful sandwich-stealing seagulls that live off unsuspecting peoples' lunches as they sit on the beach! Swap?

    Visit Keith's Ramblings!

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  19. He he - no thanks, Keith! I logged into your blog yesterday and didn't spot any activity... will pop along now. :)

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Many thanks for commenting. I appreciate your feedback.