Son of Batman

You Probably Think I'm Kidding...

That’s my dad, Fred Perry, aka, Batman. Dad earned his Ph.D. by conducting research on bats, more specifically, Tadarida brasiliensis, Mexican free-tailed bats, in caves throughout the south central United States and Mexico over a period of three years, and in laboratories at Oklahoma State University. In this photo Dad’s holding a bat (not Mexican free-tailed), we’d captured the night before in a mist net suspended above a creek out in the countryside beyond Oxford, Mississippi. Dad was teaching Techniques of Field Zoology at Ole Miss that summer, trying to relight the teaching flame in several high school biology teachers who came from all around the country. He was a popular professor, one of those rare teachers that most of us only encounter once or twice in our lifetimes. I must have been eleven or twelve when this picture was taken and loved hanging out with these generous, veteran teachers in both classroom and out in the field during labs, watching Dad work his magic upon them. He had a gift.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I miss you every day.