The Ryukyu Flying Fox in Flight Under Blue Skies

 Supposed to Be Nocturnal

Many times you can spot them early in the morning or evening when it's not dark outside.

When I take a long hike, to view the sunrise over the ocean, sometimes I'm disappointed.

Clouds on the horizon blocked the sunrise this morning so I had to find a different subject.

It was about 7:30 AM when I decided to pack up and start the long walk home.

Usually, I'd have taken a few dozen photos of birds but, today nothing of interest appeared.

My backpack was lifted and slung over the shoulders and I was ready to fold the tripod.

All of a sudden this Pteropus dasymallus flew out of a tree right near me!

They're Fruit Bats

Nothing to panic over, these critters don't fly around biting people or their pets.

Fruit farmers get upset with them, for snatching their crops but, they are also helping.

They keep things growing by spreading the pollen of flowers from plant to plant.

They are relatively harmless to humans except for one thing I can think of.

Don't look up in the sky (with your mouth open) when they're flying overhead.

They could squirt something in your face and, I hear it doesn't taste good!

Previous Post: Endangered Bat

Wildlife Photo (Bat) Ryukyu Flying Fox an Endangered Species

Today's wildlife photo is presented to you by Rusty Robertson. He shot this one yesterday in the Cherryblossoms up on Nago Mountain while I was staying warm and dry and still recuperating from hiking up that monster last weekend.

The Ryukyu Flying Fox (Pteropus dasymallus) also known as a Fruit Bat, is an Endangered Species. These bats grow to the point where their wingspan is about a meter wide and make some fairly loud noise flapping them.  So, most people who don't know about them get pretty shook up when they see one flying around as the sun starts to set.

From watching too many vampire movies, they get the idea these humongous bats are going to swoop down, pick them up, fly away to a tree in the dark and suck all the blood out of their neck.

For an endangered species, it's the one I see the most of in Okinawa, Japan.  In fact, I see them everyday. They are out, flying just before sunset and I see them early in the morning, before the sun gets everything lit up. After sunrise, they settle down to sleep, somewhere in the trees.

There's really no reason to be afraid of these bats. They don't eat people and they don't want your blood. They are Fruit Bats. They eat fruits, flowers, leaves and maybe, an occassional bug.

Rusty now, he's being featured here as a photographer because I'm really impressed with his work. He has only had his first DSLR camera about a month and he's already starting to shoot like a Professional wildlife photographer.  I'll be keepin' an eye on him; he's my apprentice, he drives a really cool getaway car and has him a GIRL WITH MUSCULAR ARMS.

They went to see the Cherryblossoms yesterday and discovered the flowers were blooming better yesterday than they did during the annual Nago Cherryblossom Festival.  Plus, caught this Ryukyu Flying Fox munching away on the flowers.

So, now that everybody knows this endangered species doesn't go around biting people, I thought the photo would be great for my weekly Travel Photo Thursday shot at BUDGET TRAVELERS SANDBOX.