Bats are unmistakable.
No other mammal has true wings and can fly.
Texas is fortunate to have 31 different species of bats
and some great places where you can go see them.
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I'm Meg Goodman,Texas State bat biologist
for Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.
We are here at the Congress Ave. bridge in downtown Austin, TX.
This is the site of the largest urban bat colony
in the whole world.
Bats are pretty misunderstood by people
because they come out at night
and you don't get to see them very often
and they have a lot of myths associated with them.
But we're going to take you to
5 great sites throughout the state
so you can learn more about them
and watch the bats as they emerge at night.
The most common bat in the state
is the Mexican free-tailed bat,
the one I have right here in my hand.
This is the type of bat you'll see
at most of the sites we're about to go visit.
The reason this guy is called a Mexican free-tailed bat
is because his tail sticks out from beyond his tail membrane.
This is a full-grown bat.
He can fly up to 60 mph with a tail wind.
Because of his long, narrow wings and short fur,
these bats can fly up to 100 miles round trip in an evening
consuming several tons of costly agricultural pests.
The first place we'll take you to
is a cave out in the Texas Hill Country.
It's a typical place you'd expect a bat to hang out.
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Located 35 miles north of Del Rio
is Kickapoo Cavern State Park.
It's here that you'll find Stuart Bat Cave
where up to 200,000 Mexican free-tailed bats
roost in late summer.
200.000 bats may sound like a lot
but this is actually one of the smaller colonies
of Mexican free-tailed bats found in Texas.
But that doesn't take away from the amazing sight
each summer night when they leave the cave to go feed.
These bats have migrated up from central Mexico.
We have a lot of bats that migrate up from central Mexico
to the central Texas area every year.
Inside the cave they're huddled together
in an amazing 200 bats per square foot.
Though each bat weighs only as much as 2 quarters,
The whole colony can devour 10 tons of moths, beetles,
and other harmful insects in a single night.
"Actually what they do is once they have their pups,"
"they leave them in the general area,"
"kind of like a nursery inside the cave."
There's a guided interpretive program
given by a Texas Parks & Wildlife employee
to all visitors.
"..no, they produce milk."
"They're mammals so they do produce milk..."
Reservations are recommended
and can be easily made
through Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.
Let's go check out another central Texas bat cave.
It's about 60 miles right up the road from here.
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Just northeast of Kickapoo Cavern State Park
near Rocksprings
is the Devil's Sinkhole State Natural Area.
This is home to one of Texas' largest colonies
of Mexican free-tailed bats.
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Just like all the sites, between April and October
the bats begin flying counterclockwise
inside the sinkhole.
The effect is like a tornado
and is greater at this site than at any place else.
This many bats make huge columns that you can see for miles.
Up to 3 million Mexican free- tailed bats inhabit this cave.
August and September is a really great time to come watch
the bat emergence. Look at this! This is amazing.
For a small fee, guided tours leave from Rocksprings
and take about 2 to 3 hours.
"...and they prefer to live in a cave"
"and they prefer to live in groups of millions."
Because there is a limit to the size of the tour group,
reservations are necessary.
"So they go out and fly 50, maybe 75 miles at night."
This is a closed park site,
but arrangements to visit can easily be made
through the Devil's Sinkhole Society in Rocksprings.
The next cave you can go visit
is quite an adventure to get there.
but it's really worth the trip
It's a really great site
there's a lot of bats to see there.
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About 18 miles southwest of Mason,
after a drive down a dusty county road
and going through a shallow river crossing
you'll be at the Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve.
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This cave is owned and operated
by the Texas Nature Conservancy.
They offer an excellent viewing area
which is really up close to the bat flight
while they give you an interpretive presentation.
This cave is also home to a maternity colony
of Mexican free-tailed bats.
"The babies are fitting about 500 per square feet."
"They're huddled in together. That's because they're cold"
"although its over 100 degrees in the cave..."
Group tours and interpretive presentations
are one of the highlights here.
But if you're lucky,
you'll witness another of nature's winged-wonders.
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Just like the bats, red-tailed hawks
are always looking for food.
the resulting display is amazing to watch.
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It's best to call ahead and make sure the cave will be open
before you drive out here.
The next site we'll visit is not a cave at all
but the bats sure like it.
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Nestled in the heart of the beautiful Texas hill country,
located between Fredericksburg and Comfort
is the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area.
As the name implies, this isn't a cave,
but an old abandoned railroad tunnel.
In 1913 the railroad company found it easier
to build a tunnel through this hill
than to route their trains around it.
By 1942 the tunnel wasn't used anymore,
so the bats took up residence.
Old Tunnel's a really neat place to come and see bats.
You can get to see the bat emergence
from 2 different perspectives.
You get the upper viewing deck for free-of-charge,
or for a small fee you can come to a lower viewing deck
and you get to see the bats up close
and you also get an interpretive presentation.
"This is one of the only places that is open to the public"
"where you can just come"
"and watch the bats come back in in the morning."
"Now you do have to get up early,"
"they're starting to come back at 5:30, 5:45..."
There are up to 3 million Mexican free-tailed bats
that live in this tunnel.
From the lower deck, the view is very close
and amazing when the bats are this dense.
From the upper level you're not as close
but you can see more of the emergence.
Sometimes the bats will come out
of both ends of the tunnel and fly over the top deck
making the view that much more spectacular.
Both viewing areas are great
so you may have to come twice to experience everything.
The last place we'll visit
where you can go see a bat emergence
is one of the top tourist destinations in Austin.
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About a mile south of the Texas State Capital
in downtown Austin
is the Congress Avenue Bridge.
This is a really unique spot to go see bats.
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With a population of up to 1.5 million
Mexican free-tailed bats,
the Congress Avenue Bridge is home
to the largest urban bat colony in North America.
When engineers reconstructed
downtown Austin's Congress Avenue Bridge in 1980
they had no idea that new crevices beneath the bridge
would make an ideal bat roost.
Although some bats had likely lived there for years,
it was headline news
when they started moving in by the thousands.
Austin now has one of the most unusual
and fascinating free tourist attraction anywhere.
The Austin American-Statesman newspaper
created a viewing area right next to the bridge.
Bring a blanket
and enjoy a great view of the nightly emergence.
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Bats are both economically and ecologically very important.
And now that you've learned a little bit more about them
and where to see them across our state
I hope you'll go out and enjoy them sometime.
For more information about the places you just saw
and other locations in Texas where you can see bats
call 1-800-792-1112 or log on to www.tpwd.state.tx.us.
You can also visit Bat Conservation International's
website at www.batcon.org.