Researchers in Japan have the first-ever video recordings of birds fleeing hunting bats. The videos, published in Ecology, confirm a previously unknown interaction between the birdlike poctule bat (Nyctalus aviator) and migratory songbirds.
A 2025 study proposed that noctule bats in Europe attack songbirds mid-flight using sound recordings of the interactions from small microphones attached to the bats. The gruesome audio snippets captivated the public, but there was still no visual evidence.
In 2023, researchers went to the Tsugaru bird observatory in northern Japan where, using searchlights, they monitored nocturnal bird migrations up to 150 meters in the air. They documented bats attacking birds 56 times through counts, photography and infrared and thermal videos. In six instances, the bats successfully captured the birds. They confirmed the encounters with on-the-ground DNA tests, finding bat DNA in wounds on a Japanese bush warbler (Horonis diphone) that was captured, then dropped by a bat.
The bats have found a way to eat nocturnal migratory birds—a niche that few predators have filled. “This finding is significant not only for our understanding of food webs but also provides crucial insight into the mechanisms driving bat diversification,” said Dai Fukuki, a researcher at the University of Tokyo who specializes in bats and the lead author of the study.
