Overview

• Researchers fitted 14 greater noctules in Spain with miniature biologgers that recorded movement, altitude, echolocation and ambient sound.
• Data captured two nocturnal attacks, including a successful capture of a robin more than one kilometer above ground followed by in‑flight feeding.
• Acoustic traces documented a series of distress calls from the bird, a sudden silence and about 23 minutes of chewing, confirming consumption aloft.
• The bats initiate steep pursuit dives lasting up to nearly three minutes, kill with a powerful bite, then remove the wings to reduce weight and drag.
• The findings resolve a decades‑long question about bat predation on nocturnal migrants and highlight conservation needs for this rare, old‑forest species.