Bats and chimney swifts

[BH]

I was out in my mother's front yard yesterday at dusk and saw what appeared to be bats. A neighbor talking to her and me said they could be bats or chimney swifts. How can one tell the difference between the two just by their flying?

A couple of neighbors have chimneys but one had a bird and bat guard on it. The other one appeared uncovered but it dark enough and greenery in the trees kept us from being able to make out if anything was leaving or entering the chimney. I am told bats are actually very common, just that people dont interact with them much because they are nocturnal . I've also heard they are actually very small, the body being only 2 or 3 inches long. They are normally not near as big as made out in the vampire movies

 

[Worldtraveller]

In TX, at dusk, they are most likely to be bats, more specifically, the Western Pipistrelle aka Canyon bat. They are very common throughout the southwest of the US. A little later, when you can't usually see them, but if you have an ultrasound detector, the slightly larger Little Brown Bats and other less known species tend to come out.

Swifts are primarily diurnal, not nocturnal. The other birds that tend to come out around dusk are Nightjars, Nighthawks, and Whiporwills. These are all fairly common birds. The nightjars and nighthawks have pretty distinctive white bars on their otherwise dark wings, so are usually pretty easy to identify.

The pipistrelles are much smaller, not even really as big as a typical sparrow.

 

[BH]

I talked to a man who lived down the street while out taking a walk. I made sure to social distance. Anyway, he said bats can seem to stop in midair and change direction whereas swifts lack this ability. They have to change direction by making more pronounced curves turns

If that is the case they were probably bats because they flew in a manner where they could stop, change direction, ect. It kinda reminded me of what supposed ufos are supposedly able to do stopping immediately then changing direction.

 

[bilby]

I was out in my mother's front yard yesterday at dusk and saw what appeared to be bats. A neighbor talking to her and me said they could be bats or chimney swifts. How can one tell the difference between the two just by their flying?

A couple of neighbors have chimneys but one had a bird and bat guard on it. The other one appeared uncovered but it dark enough and greenery in the trees kept us from being able to make out if anything was leaving or entering the chimney. I am told bats are actually very common, just that people dont interact with them much because they are nocturnal . I've also heard they are actually very small, the body being only 2 or 3 inches long. They are normally not near as big as made out in the vampire movies

Some species of bat are very small. Around here, we have bats with a three foot wingspan, so clearly not all are.

 

[Worldtraveller]

I was out in my mother's front yard yesterday at dusk and saw what appeared to be bats. A neighbor talking to her and me said they could be bats or chimney swifts. How can one tell the difference between the two just by their flying?

A couple of neighbors have chimneys but one had a bird and bat guard on it. The other one appeared uncovered but it dark enough and greenery in the trees kept us from being able to make out if anything was leaving or entering the chimney. I am told bats are actually very common, just that people dont interact with them much because they are nocturnal . I've also heard they are actually very small, the body being only 2 or 3 inches long. They are normally not near as big as made out in the vampire movies

Some species of bat are very small. Around here, we have bats with a three foot wingspan, so clearly not all are.

Technically, flying foxes and bats are not really the same thing.

 

[bilby]

I was out in my mother's front yard yesterday at dusk and saw what appeared to be bats. A neighbor talking to her and me said they could be bats or chimney swifts. How can one tell the difference between the two just by their flying?

A couple of neighbors have chimneys but one had a bird and bat guard on it. The other one appeared uncovered but it dark enough and greenery in the trees kept us from being able to make out if anything was leaving or entering the chimney. I am told bats are actually very common, just that people dont interact with them much because they are nocturnal . I've also heard they are actually very small, the body being only 2 or 3 inches long. They are normally not near as big as made out in the vampire movies

Some species of bat are very small. Around here, we have bats with a three foot wingspan, so clearly not all are.

Technically, flying foxes and bats are not really the same thing.

Technically, yes they bloody are.

 

[Bronzeage]

The small agile flying thing seen near dusk is likely a chimney swift. They look like what we think a bat ought to look like, but in the US, most bats are about half the size of chimney swift. Bats in flight are very difficult to see, especially in low light conditions.