Bats on the Night Shift

Smarty Party! Good evening... I am the terror of the night! ...Your fangs are plastic. Shh! The show begins! The sun goes down, you're heading off to bed, But a cave in Texas wakes up instead! First crew: the Mexican free-tailed bats— Up to twenty million! Imagine that! Rain on the radar? No—it's a bat parade! Gobbling moths, the farmers' pest-control brigade! Furry little mammals, flying on our hands! Not birds, not blind—and we've got night-shift plans! Bats on the night shift! (Night shift!) While you're sleeping, we are working, Flying high till morning light! Catching bugs and pollinating, Planting seeds all through the night— We're the bats on the night shift! How do they hunt? It's echolocation— A shout-and-listen conversation! A call goes out (Out!), an echo comes back (Back!), Too high for you to hear, it keeps them on track! The sooner the echo, the closer the bug— Then calls speed up—the feeding buzz—and GULP! Bats on the night shift! (Night shift!) While you're sleeping, we are working, Flying high till morning light! Catching bugs and pollinating, Planting seeds all through the night— We're the bats on the night shift! Night shift! (Shift... shift...) Ooh, the night shift! Night shift! (Shift... shift...) Crew two works the desert, under the moon: A lesser long-nosed bat at a saguaro bloom! Sip! It wears a pollen mustache on its face And carries it to flowers in another place! Crew three: straw-colored fruit bats, big and bright-eyed, Sniff out the fruit—they don't need echoes to guide! They munch the fruit, they fly for miles, and then— Plop! Out come the seeds, and the forest grows again! About fifteen hundred kinds of us take flight— More than one in five mammal kinds! That's right! And here's the Halloween twist: Only three drink blood—just three on the list! The vampire bat... does not suck blood. It laps it up... A tablespoon or two... often from a cow. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! ...Moo. Bats on the night shift! (Night shift!) While you're sleeping, we are working, Flying high till morning light! Catching bugs and pollinating, Planting seeds all through the night— We're the bats on the night shift! We're the bats on the night shift! (Night shift!) And now... my grand finale! It's morning. The bats went to bed. Good night, then! ...I mean, good morning. Smarty Party Songs! Like, subscribe, PARTY!