Living life in the Land of the Rising Sun: August 2016

When Russ and I arrived on the island last fall, we did quite a bit of walking. Since we didn't have a car for the first two weeks, we walked to all the various restaurants for our meals. Many times we would be walking at dusk and would see what we thought were huge black birds. At first we thought they were crows or ravens because they were so big but were amazed when we realized they were actually bats. Each night when we'd go walking we would watch them flying from tree to tree and battling with each other while screeching. They were captivating to watch.

This spring we started seeing them in our apartment area flying into the trees below our balcony. Many nights we've sat on the balcony at dusk watching them fly in for their suppers and listened to their screeches as they vied for their spots in the trees. They put on quite a show most evenings.

Since I didn't know much about them I decided to do a little research on these peculiar creatures. I knew I'd never seen anything like them in the states and as I began reading information about them I realized they are only found in this part of the world in the subtropical/tropical areas. They are fruit bats also called Ryukyu Flying Fox bats or in Japanese - ookomori. As I was photographing them last week I had a local man with four kids stop to see what I was watching. They instantly started exclaiming "komori!!" and stayed with me for awhile watching them. (one of those times when I wished I knew the language better to converse with them).

They are cute little creatures when you look at them up close through the lens but rather daunting when you watch them fly. They have a body length of about 20 cm (about 8 inches) but have a wingspan of 90 cm (about 3 feet wide). They have plump furry bodies with 4 very long fingers and a short thumb attached to each wing. There is a claw on the 2nd finger and thumb that allows them to manipulate the fruit. They don't use echolocation (locating objects via echos and vibrations) but are said to have very good vision. They can't see in total darkness so they fly using moonlight, starlight and town lights.

Getting ready to take his spot and kick the other two out.

Fruit bats roost in trees (not caves) during the day and wake up at sunset. By about 30 minutes after sunset we see them start assembling at the trees for several hours. They are very noisy and make monkey-like screams. When they meet on the same branch they hit each other with their wings and scream loudly. They feed exclusively on fruit and usually extract the juice and spit out the pulp. They also love pollen from flowers. They are said to be great for germination of the plants and trees on the island. After they feed for several hours in the evening they disperse and rest until about an hour before sunrise and go back to sleep by dawn.

Enjoying his evening meal.

They've intrigued me since seeing them last fall so last week I ventured downstairs to the trees below our balcony and stood underneath them with my camera and caught some cute photos of them. It's been a photography challenge for me to learn how to photograph them in low light with all the movement they do. I take many photos and then have to lighten them in photoshop to see what I captured. It's like shooting blindly most nights because I can't see exactly what they are doing or any detail in their faces until I adjust the shadows with my editing software. I'm still hoping to capture a great wingspan picture of them. I may leave here with thousands of pictures of them before I'm satisfied with the photos but they are fun to photograph. Here are a few of my favorite photos from last week.