Tonight, I was looking at the recent google searches made regarding owls and came across the popular question ‘do owls eat bats?’ and my first reaction was that I had honestly never really considered it. I’m not sure why I never thought of bats being prey for owls since owls have been known to go for small dogs and cats, so it seems kind of obvious that a bat wouldn’t be out of the question. I suppose they are both active at night so will come across each other more often than we think. Therefore, after reading up on the topic, do owls eat bats? The answer is yes, if the chance presents itself. Bats are not a main diet staple for owls but it does occur.
Which owls eat bats?
Owls that are known to eat bats include but are not limited to:
- Tawny owls
- Barn owls
- Barred owls
- Great-Horned owls
- Long-Eared owls
- Short-eared owls
- Eagle owl
According to ‘Bats Eaten by Owls’ by Heimo Mikkola, Barn owls and Tawny owls tend to capture the most bats, around 40-50% of all bats eaten by owls. Then followed by Long-Eared owls who account for around 7.3%. Short-Eared, and Eagle owls account for less than 2%. Other bat species barely make a dent in the numbers but it does still happen.
Which Bats are eaten by owls?
The most common bats eaten by owls include:
- Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus Pipistrellus)
- Mouse-Eared bat (Myotis Myoti)
- Kuhl’s Pipistrelle
- Parti-Coloured bat / Rearmouse (Vespertilio Murinus)
- Common Noctule (Nyctalus Noctula)
- Serotine Bat (Eptesicus Serotinus)
The Common Pipistrelle, the Mouse-Eared bat and the Kuhl’s Pipistrelle account for 10-15% of bat species eaten by owls, the Parti-Coloured bat, Common Noctule and the Serotine bat account for just under 10% each. Therefore, the six most eaten species of bat account for 70% of deaths and this is mostly because they are small and light species.
Is it common?
Owls are not perfectly adapted to hunt bats so this is not the prey of choice for most owls, they would much rather focus on the abundance of rodents that they can take their pick of but nevertheless, owls account for about 11% of bats annual mortality. That isn’t so low from a bats perspective, and this may be higher in areas where bats are much more common like the South.
Owls are less likely to hunt bats because they are not as easy to catch as a rodent. Firstly, bats can fly and although owls are skilful fliers, it’s still harder to catch something flying around than on the ground. Also, bats can give as good as they get, they are able to echo locate which means they can emit calls out to the environment and listen to the echoes they receive back from those calls, returned by nearby objects. By doing this they can identify where objects are and locate them in their spatial navigation so they can efficiently hunt and stay safe while flying. This means that although owls can utilise their amazing silent flight to catch unsuspecting rodents, this doesn’t work for bats because they can detect an owl’s presence purely by echo location.
Also, owls much prefer to hunt from above so they can easily use their talons to attack their prey and bats are unlikely to be on the ground. They are either flying or pressed against a tree or hanging from an object. Bats are more likely to fight back if they are attacked mid-flight and can even hide close behind an owl while they fly until the owl gives up hunting for the bat and then the bat will fly away safely once the owl ceases to hunt.
Sadly, an Oriental Bay owl actually died from eating a bat because the bats wing bone had protruded through the owls stomach, suggesting that bats may sometimes be too big for easy consumption.
Therefore, owls do hunt bats and they account for around 11% of bat deaths yearly. This can vary between owl species and bat species and the location but overall a bat is a form of consistent prey for many owls.
