Daubenton's bat

Photo: Jo Hermans

Latin name:
Myotis daubentoni

Characteristics:

The Daubenton’s bat weighs 8 to 17 grams and has a wingspan of 20 to 30 cm. This makes it a large bat with relatively wide wings. The abdominal coat of this bat is grey-white and clearly contrasts with the medium to dark brown back coat. Furthermore, the Daubenton’s bat has remarkably large feet to catch insects from the water surface.
The sound of the Daubenton’s bat can be heard the loudest around 40 kHz with the batdetector. At 60 or 25 kHz you can hear the same type of sound, but not so loud. So it is best to set the detector at 40 or 45 kHz when you are standing at the waterfront to spot these bats.

Habitats:
Maternity roosts of the Daubenton’s bats can be found mainly in crevices and holes in hollow trees, but also in church attics, in bat boxes, bunkers and old forts. The numbers vary from a few dozen to more than 100 animals. When the young are a few days old, the females already take them to other places of residence.
Just like the common brown long-eared bat, the Daubenton’s bat prefers to hibernate in underground places such as caves, limestone quarries, old brickworks, bunkers, forts, fortifications, ice cellars and (castle) cellars. In general, Daubenton’s bat have a stable hibernation from October/November to March/April, but there are cases where they have been awake for a short time.
Mating takes place, as far as is known, in the winter quarters and during autumn.

Food:
The Daubenton’s bat hunts just above the surface of sheltered ponds or on the sheltered side of ponds in estates and parks, castle and fish ponds, narrow canals, slow-flowing rivers and streams. The Daubenton’s bat also hunts above land, relatively low above forest paths or sheltered open spaces in the forest, or higher between the tree crowns. Daubenton’s bats eat mainly mosquitoes, bounties, small butterflies and beetles.