Bracken Cave Preserve

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The Bracken Cave Preserve was the evening field trip scheduled for the NPSOT symposium. Space was limited. And the Preserve is normally closed after September. So it was special to get in. The Mexican Free-tailed Bats are the main attraction!

A volunteer went over all the do’s and don’t’s.
The star!

The volunteer told us that this colony was only a maternal colony. So only mamas and babies. She went on to say in each square foot there could be up to 500 bats! 10 to 20 million bats use the cave. Many of the bats had already left for Mexico.

On the way to the observation viewing area, Prickly Pear (Opuntia).

The entrance to the cave.
In hushed voices we waited.

As the sun dropped we saw a few bats fly overhead.

It got dark and it was very hard to see. Then I used my thermal imaging scope to see what really was going on.

Then a hawk swooped through for a meal!

Here I changed the colors on the camera. Additionally I slowed down the mp4 to 10 percent. In total there was three birds of prey that zoomed by.

Then in calm and quiet voices folks gave this visitor a wide berth. Because everyone was using really quiet voices the recorder did not pick up the sounds. If you could have heard the sound, Liz exclaimed very very quietly, “it brushed my leg”. Everyone was very happy, no spraying! 🙂

Catherine, Alan, and myself took a selfie to commemorate the occasion. It had been a special night.

And while we never got to see the bat-nado, it had been a special occasion! The bats that had emerged from the cave did so after it was too dark for see. To learn more about Bracken Cave Preserve click here.

Thanks again to Alan and Catherine for sharing the weekend at the NPSOT Symposium!

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Keep looking!

The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know

10 Comments

  2. So clever of you to take the night vision scope – could really see the hawk! Funny how the skunk was not deterred by all the folks sitting around.

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  3. Thank you for your awesome report! Your night vision scope is a great tool. I haven’t visited Bracken Cave yet but it’s on my list.

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  5. I’ve been to Bracken Bat Cave twice. The first time, it was late in the year and most of the bats had left. The second time, it was an amazing show as millions of bats came swarming out. Since it was summer that time, we could actually see what was happening. The hawks came swooping in then, too. One impressive fact was that you can spot the evening departure from the cave on radar. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/c7nZgPgUVX8AHyCD/

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