We report the results of an 11-year (2008–2018) community science project (also known as citizen science) designed to document the use of hummingbird feeders by two species of nectar-feeding bats, the lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) and the Mexican long-tongued bat (Choeronycteris mexicana), in the Tucson area of southern Arizona. From 50 to > 100 households participated in this project each year. We supplemented their reports with occasional mist-netting of bats at 21 observer sites to determine age and sex composition of bats at feeders. Our results indicate that L. yerbabuenae was more widespread and common at feeders than C. mexicana, which occurred mainly at sites close to mountains. In the Tucson area, the geographic extent of feeder visitations by bats, mostly L. yerbabuenae, expanded since 2007 and by 2018, covered most of the city and its suburbs. Most bats of both species visited feeders between late August and late October with little year-to-year variation in timing; some individuals of both species continued to visit feeders during winter. The number of bats observed at many sites during September (the month of peak visitations) was relatively stable for at least 10 years; modal numbers of nightly visitors per site in most years was 6 – 10 bats. Capture data indicated that L. yerbabuenae that visited feeders in the Tucson area were not a random sample of the species’ age and sex composition in southeastern Arizona, where their food plants are located in late summer and fall. In Tucson, most bats visiting feeders were subadult females (juveniles and yearlings). We suggest that hummingbird feeders have substantially increased food availability for nectar bats in southern Arizona prior to their migration south into Mexico. However, reasons for the increased use of feeders by L. yerbabuenae, particularly subadult females, beginning in 2007 are not yet clear.

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“免费”食物：亚利桑那州南部蜂鸟喂食器的花蜜蝙蝠

我们报告了一项为期 11 年（2008-2018 年）的社区科学项目（也称为公民科学）的结果，该项目旨在记录两种以花蜜为食的蝙蝠，较小的长鼻蝙蝠 (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) 使用蜂鸟喂食器的情况) 和墨西哥长舌蝙蝠​​ (Choeronycteris mexicana)，位于亚利桑那州南部的图森地区。从 50 到 > 每年有 100 户家庭参与该项目。我们补充了他们的报告，偶尔在 21 个观察点对蝙蝠进行雾网收集，以确定喂食者蝙蝠的年龄和性别构成。我们的研究结果表明，L. yerbabuenae 在饲养者中比 C. mexicana 更广泛和常见，后者主要发生在靠近山区的地点。在图森地区，自 2007 年和 2018 年以来，蝙蝠（主要是耶巴布那乳杆菌）访问支线的地理范围有所扩大，覆盖了城市及其郊区的大部分地区。这两种蝙蝠的大多数蝙蝠都在 8 月下旬至 10 月下旬访问了饲养者，时间的逐年变化很小；这两个物种的一些个体在冬季继续访问饲养者。9 月（访问高峰期）期间在许多地点观察到的蝙蝠数量相对稳定至少 10 年；在大多数年份，每个站点的夜间访问者的模态数量为 6 – 10 蝙蝠。捕获数据表明，在图森地区访问饲养者的 L. yerbabuenae 不是亚利桑那州东南部物种年龄和性别组成的随机样本，它们的食用植物位于夏末和秋季。在图森，大多数拜访喂食者的蝙蝠是亚成年雌性（少年和一岁幼体）。我们建议蜂鸟喂食器在向南迁移到墨西哥之前，大大增加了亚利桑那州南部的花蜜蝙蝠的食物供应。然而，从 2007 年开始，耶巴布那乳杆菌，特别是亚成年雌性饲养器使用量增加的原因尚不清楚。