Pteropus scapulatus
5 Little Red Flying Fox at Belconnen, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Pteropus scapulatus | MichaelMulvaney | 21 Jan 2020 | |
| Pteropus scapulatus | MPennay | 21 Jan 2020 | |
| Pteropus poliocephalus | MattM | 21 Jan 2020 |
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Significant sighting
MichaelMulvaney noted:
21 Jan 2020
Little red flying foxes are very occasional visitors to the region , the last record in the ACT was 23 years ago (1997). Our bat moderator Mike Pennay thinks that the bats are probably here for the flowering yellowbox and the drought /fires everywhere has deprived them of other food sources
User's notes
My parents stumbled across this roosting colony of 100+ bats in early January. They were concerned the colony may have taken damage from the hail, but I was unable to find any carcasses when I inspected today. The trees they were roosting in seemed to have taken very little damage from the hail.
I am guessing these are grey-headed flying foxes? My parents should have more photos if they are required for ID.
4 comments
21 Jan 2020
Hi - do you have more photos? Grey headed flying foxes are the main species that usually camp at Commonwealth Park - The bats in your photo seem very reddish brown and look like little red flying foxes but I cant tell if its just the washed out light in your photo or they really are red. The way they are clumped suggests little reds.
22 Jan 2020
if they are little red flying foxes - its a very interesting observation as they dont come to Canberra regularly - but the yellowbox trees are flowering at the moment.
22 Jan 2020
I have uploaded more images that I took today. I tried to count them when I went back, and counted approximately 120 individuals. It's interesting to hear they haven't been recorded since 1997.
22 Jan 2020
Thanks Matt, that's good. Can confirm they're little red flying foxes. Glad they're ok about 320 grey-headed flying foxes perished in the hail storm. It's a very interesting sighting. Thanks for reporting.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.065743-35.223400
- Maps Lake Ginninderra
- Places Belconnen, ACT
Sighting information
- 120 Abundance
- 20 Jan 2020 04:29 PM Recorded on
- MattM Recorded by
Collections
- Significant MattM Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Pteropus scapulatus Flying Foxes & Other Megabats Bats Mammals
Species information
- Pteropus scapulatus Scientific name
- Little Red Flying Fox Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- External link More information
Record quality
Quality score
5 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- Description
- GPS evidence of location
- Additional attributes