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The 'Greater Noctule bat' (''Nyctalus lasiopterus''), or 'Greater Noctule', is a rare and little known mammal. Found in Europe, West Asia, and North Africa, it has the distinction of being the largest bat in Europe, with a wingspan of up to 46 centimetres. Studies suggest that these aerial-hawking bats feed on insects and passerine birds, which they are believed to catch and eat on the wing. In Spain at least, Greater Noctules hibernate from December to February.
Predation on birds, especially catching them in the air rather than when roosting, is very rare among bats. In fact, hunting birds on the wing has been reported only for the Greater Noctule, in studies in both Italy and Spain. The studies in Spain indicated that during the nocturnal migration of birds over the Mediterranean from March-May and August-November, as much as 70% of Greater Noctule droppings contained the remains of birds. Studies of stable isotopes in Greater Noctule blood corroborate this hypothesis of nocturnal predation on migratory passerines. The greater noctule is large, employs echolocation, has wings evolved for open-air hunting, and its echolocation frequencies include those above the hearing range of birds, indicating that it is well adapted or exapted for hunting passerines in the air at night.

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References

Dondini, G., Vergari, S. 2000 Carnivory in the greater noctule bat (''Nyctalus lasiopterus'') in Italy. Journal of Zoology 251: 233-236.
Ibáñez, C., Juste, J., García-Mudarra, J. L., Agirre-Mendi, P. T. 2001. Bat predation on nocturnally migrating birds. PNAS 98:9700-9702. full article. discussion.
Popa-Lisseanu, A. G., Delgado-Huertas, A., Forero, M. G., Rodriguez, A., Arlettaz, R. & Ibanez, C. 2007. Bats' conquest of a formidable foraging niche: the myriads of nocturnally migrating songbirds. PLoS ONE 2(2): e205. full article.

External links

★ BBC article: Bats eat flying birds, say scientists

★ NPR article: Giant Bats Snatch Birds from Night Sky

★ Darren Naish's blog Tetrapod Zoology: greater noctule predation on birds