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

Huntsman Spider - Mini-series of insect stories

Here is story number 4 in my insect mini-series

Huntsman Spider - Savusavu, Fiji

Nocturnal hunting came with its own set of rules, rewards and hazards. While she risked the dangers of the hunter becoming the hunted, she enjoyed a freedom of movement that only a webless spider could experience.

Fruit Bat - or Flying Fox in Papaya Tree, Fiji

On this particular night she had stalked a beetle up into the canopy of a papaya tree, and found herself confronted by a flying fox – or fruit bat. The bat had taken umbrage at the interloper who had disturbed it at its evening meal, causing the Huntsman to make a rapid retreat. The spider leapt, jumped and skittered down the papaya tree and took refuge on a nearby house where she had spotted some interesting activity. Moths were hurling themselves against a window in a vain attempt to reach the light within.

 She had barely positioned herself to pounce on a juicy looking specimen when she spotted a gecko approaching, no doubt with the same idea.

Now the Huntsman had a serious problem. With a potential leg span of 160mm she was the largest spider in this part of the world, but geckoes were dangerous predators. She knew the lizard would have no qualms about taking her on. Indeed, a spider of her dimensions was probably a far more attractive proposition to the gecko than a slim moth with insubstantial wings.

The Huntsman withdrew.

She needed to find a hiding place because she knew that more geckoes would arrive to feast on the moths. Her preferred choice was loose tree bark to slide and hide beneath, but with sunrise imminent she didn’t have time to leave the security of the building to go in search of something more suitable. She therefore elected to remain under the eaves of the house.

Now, if only the creature that lived within the house would stop flashing a light in her eight eyes, she might have been content to stay a while. As it was, she waited patiently for night to descend once more so that she could make good her escape.