On a sunshiny Saturday at Desoto State Park in Fort Payne, very small winged creatures that prefer to make their home in dark caves came out to say hello. Or rather, Vicky Beckham Smith did the talking.
Clad in bat jewelry and in a vest decorated with bat pins (“I get a lot of stuff from people, especially this time of year,” Smith said) with four of her winged friends in cages beside her, Smith began her morning program on October 26 by dispelling persistent myths about bats.
Contrary to what many people believe, bats are not blind, the sun does not hurt their eyes, and they do not all have rabies, Smith explained. Her audience of around thirty that morning ranged from a very happy baby and their red-headed sibling to curious and enthusiastic adults. Everyone wanted to know more about bats, and Smith was the perfect person to answer all their questions—after all, she’s The Bat Lady.
Smith is an environmental educator and the owner of A – Z Animals, and her “Batty for Bats” program at Desoto State Park was a stop on her “Bats, Bugs, Biodiversity: Connecting Children to State Parks” educational tour, sponsored by the Big Cedar Education Foundation, among other organizations.
Her first stop was in March at Chewacla State Park in Auburn, where Smith lives with her family. Later that Saturday she was set for another presentation at nearby Little River Canyon Center, and the last state park on her tour will be Rickwood Caverns in Warrior, Alabama, on November 3rd. By then, Smith and her flying friends will have educated hundreds of Alabama children about the importance of bats and their place in Alabama’s ecosystem.
Smith brought two very different kinds of bats with her to Saturday’s program: big brown bats (which are native to Alabama) and Egyptian fruit bats. Any onlooker who may have been initially frightened of bats were undoubtedly reassured by Smith’s infectious enthusiasm, and perhaps by also noticing that the Egyptian fruit bats were nestled into a little toy lamb in the corner of their cage.
In contrast to their name, Smith’s big brown bats are actually very small, weighing just 20 grams. Among multiple crafts that she offered children in the audience was measuring with sand on a scale to grasp just how little bats weigh.
For nearly twenty years, Smith and other educators have worked on the upcoming publication Bats: A Guide for Educators, which will soon be distributed to zoos. A former educator for the Birmingham Zoo and the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge, Smith has taught about and cared for many animals over the years, but said on Saturday that “Bats are really my love and my passion.”
Smith holds state and federal permits that allow her to care for and use non-releasable bats for education, and the bats in her care cannot be released back into the wild. One bat she took in had lost its fingers to a cat, and another was sprayed by essential oils when it was trapped in a house. Smith also once cared for a bat named Sparky, who survived being hit by fireworks and a subsequent wing amputation.
“They won’t bother you if you don’t bother them,” said Smith during her presentation, explaining that bats want to be left to themselves in their natural habitats. If a bat has gotten inside your house, Smith explained that you should only attempt to move a bat to get it away from small children or back outside, and you need to use gloves, a box, a jar, or a towel and then lay it on a bush outside until the bat hopefully flies away back to its roost.
You need to be cautious if you come into contact with a bat, said Smith, for same as with a raccoon, not all bats have rabies but they are more likely than other species to have it. If you are ever bitten by a bat, you can be treated afterwards with a rabies post exposure shot, which are very effective.
Despite the frequency that bats are portrayed as predatory in films and other media, bats actually face many dangers, explained Smith, including attacks from hawks, owls, raccoons, and increasingly, cats. Wind turbines can kill bats as well as birds, and bats are also often hit by automobiles.
Another growing danger to bats is white nose syndrome, which is a fungus that has spread over 38 states and has killed entire cave systems of bats during the winter. One thing that can halt the spread of the fungus is by not traveling from one cave to another without making sure your clothes and equipment are completely clean. Smith said that hopefully the bats will develop immunity to the fungus and move out of caves that have been infected. “We’ve lost a lot of bats,” Smith said, “but Nature’s going to have to fix itself.”
Smith explained how bats are the only flying mammal and usually only have one baby a year. She also explained echolocation, which is how bats find their way in the dark, and also how baby bats are born with adult-size feet, which particularly fascinated her smallest audience members. She gave children cutouts of bats to vividly illustrate the many sizes of bats across the world—and the wingspan of one cutout bat was nearly as long as several of the children were tall.
“Bats in the U.S. are extremely helpful to us,” Smith stated, one reason is because they are an important part of the food chain and microbats like big brown bats eat many insects. Bats pollinate the agave plant used to make tequila, and Smith said to the grownups in her audience: “If you like tequila you need to thank a bat.” Fruit bats are equally important to the ecosystem because they drop seeds to the ground.
Along with the (very small) big browns, other bats that can be found in Alabama are Southeastern bats, grey bats, the Mexican free-tailed bat, Eastern small-footed bats, hoary bats, and small brown bats. All of the bat species found in Alabama are insect eaters.
Smith’s vast knowledge about bats ensured that every question her audience had was answered, and her Batty for Bats program on Saturday showed the importance of educational programs about our environment in our state. Learning about bats and sharing accurate information are two of the best ways you can help protect bats and their important place in our ecosystem, said Smith at one point during her program.
“And if you just look at their faces—especially the fruit bats—oh my gosh they’re so cute,” Smith said, and her enthusiasm was catching. Once again, The Bat Lady left her audience batty about Alabama wildlife.
About the Author
Katharine Armbrester graduated from UAB in 2019 with an MA in history and a MFA in creative writing from Mississippi University for Women in 2022. She has been published in Alabama magazine, Starnes Media newspapers, Literary Ladies Guide and Alabama Heritage.
