We had a married couple and their kids over one night several years ago and my wife and the other guys wife went out for a midnight dip in the pool while sipped our drinks, a while later we heard the ladies screaming their heads off out in the pool so we went out to investigate. When we got there see was a number of bats flying swiftly around the surface of the pool, and they had the two ladies cornered at one end of the pool frightened out of their wits and too afraid to stick more then their head out of the water. Every time they tried get up and move towards the pool ladder the bats seemed to swoop directly at them forcing them back towards the corner. It was hilarious and kind of fascinating to watch. At the ladies urging to do something about the situation we eventually got the pool net and tried scooping the bats out of the air causing them to disperse and allowing the ladies to exit the pool. Not exactly sure how many bats there were, because they twisted and turned and flew so fast, and it was dark out, but it seemed like between 5-7. And what was really fascinating was they seemed to be deliberately keeping the girls cornered in the pool. They never actually made contact with them, but they were deliberately swooping at them every time they made an attempt to get up out of the pool. It was fun to watch while it lasted.
On another occasion I left my house for work one morning and noticed something odd on the head of a thistle bush, but didn't pay too much attention to it since I was already running late. Later however, after returning from work, I noticed it again and had the time to investigate. What I found was a small brown bat firmly stuck to the prickly head of the thistle. On closer examination I noticed he was still alive, but he could hardly do more then twist his head and blink. This guy was really stuck. I tried to peel off one of his wings but he was so stuck to the thistle I thought I was gona injure him,so I went in the house and got some scissors to cut of the head of the thistle and move him somewhere where I could try and untangle him better. It took me a good half hour, but I finally managed to free the little bugger, and the moment I freed him and laid him on the ground he took off and flew away. Imagine that, after being stuck to that thistle all day and probably well into the night before, he seemed no worse for the wear, just took off and carried on with his business.
When renovating the house we are currently living I found a nest of bats living up in the eves of the house. They started flying out as I ripped the old wooden soffit boards off. There must have been at least a dozen or so in there, and they even had a few babies that tucked themselves up in some small cracks and crevasses of the roof rather then flying away like the rest of them did. After ousting them from there home I felt a little guilty and started looking into building some bat houses. But I guess I got over the guilt cause they never got built.
As for attracting them, along with putting up the bat houses a pond with lots of breeding mosquitoes would probably do the trick too.
