Little brown bat
Despite unusually mild temperature since December the bats on Treasure Island are hibernating for the winter. For whatever reason they didn’t tell one little guy (or gal) where the big slumber party was going to be. Forced to improvise this bat chose a dry, relatively warm, and very public spot to bed down—the upper wall of my neighbor’s covered porch (see picture). So far, it hasn’t complained about the porch light, which is only a few feet away and is always on.
Treasure Island has a good-sized bat population. During warmer weather you see them just at dusk, swooping through yards and flying along the beach. The bats are on full alert, using their built-in radar system to find nighttime insects through a process called “echolocation.” Until this winter I had never seen one up close.
A few years ago K’s mom got her a fancy wooden bathouse as a Christmas present. The bathouse isn’t large—perhaps 9 x 14 x 2 inches. Call it a bat condo. I was given the job of mounting it. I read the instructions carefully and decided to disregard them when they advised tucking the bathouse up under the eaves near the peak of the roof so the bats could come and go with, I suppose, a reasonable degree of security and privacy. The downside would have been a section of siding perpetually stained with bat guano.
Instead I mounted the bathouse on a big Douglas-fir about 20 feet up. So far the local bats have totally ignored it. Not one bat has been anywhere near the bathouse, let alone considered it as a place to sack out for the day (or winter). The bathouse is a bit weathered now on the outside, but the interior is probably like new. However, as they say in real estate: location, location, location. Of course, when winter is at hand and they need a place to crash, bats are apparently less picky.
Back to the bat at hand. Armed with a mug shot, taken from the rear, I searched online hoping to identify its species, range, and hibernating habits. (The bat in the picture is facing away from the camera toward the wall, so you don’t see its ears and snout.) Judging from its color, body shape, size, and sticklike black limbs, my best guess is that this one is a little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), one of the most common of the 15 or so species of bats found in Washington.
Mud Bay Blog 
What a great find. It looks kind of like a beetle in the picture. I’m sharing this with Jake who is quite enamored with bats.
Our cats were quite good at catching the bats that dwelt in the stone wall down the hillside below our house. Guess they were quite a treat for hungry cats.