Midnight walk or, Running into a Net is the Last Thing You Want to Do While Pregnant

There was a five second pause before I finally mustered the courage to ask.

"And, um, well stupid quesiton but, how exactly do you know that it's pregnant?"

Before I could snicker at my sudden mental image of the nervous little she-bat peeing over a mini Rite-Aid pregnancy stick, Pepperdine's Rodney Hancock gently flipped her over with his gloved hand and pointed. Still on the tree, the Big Brown Bat was now it's back.

"See those big bulbs there?"

I squinted. If I hadn't know any better, which I don't, I would have assumed this was a male with two large spectacularly large cojones.

"Those are embryos."

Well I'll be damned. Here before me was America's bat, laying there looking exceedingly pissed off with two batbuns in the oven. Rodney plopped down another smaller species next to it. No sooner than my had camera focused on this one, it hopped off the tree and scampered towards the creek. He replaced this one with a non-pregnant Big Brown relative. Its coat was shiny and its movements were quick. It wanted to get the hell out of there. As soon as Rodney lifted his finger that was pinning the bat, it jumped off and out of the light. I panicked and instinctively checked my crotch. ,Thankfully finding no bat attached to it, I shined my flashlight into the creek, unable to find it. It had flown off.

Rodney wandered off to retrieve his remaining nets that had been strewn across the creek, capturing unsuspecting creatures of the night. I shut off my flashlight as my let my eyes adjust to the darkness. The sounds of cool water and hundreds of croaking frogs filled my ears.

-RD