Author: The Refuge

Wonderful visit from a German colleague

We were contacted a few weeks ago by a German ecological consultant on sabbatical, who has been traveling the world for the last year or so.  Starting six months ago she was in Patagonia, then in the Brazilian Pantanal, far upstream in the Amazon, and in Montreal, before volunteering with us for three weeks.  An intrepid traveler, she has been camping in the jungles and couch-surfing the cities of the world before arriving at facility with an open mind and an open heart, sharing wonderful stories from her travels.

What a joy it was to get to know her!  She is a true citizen of the world, and she filled us with hope for the future!  As a global ambassador, her ability to share the wonder of the natural world did her country proud!  Fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, French, and who knows how many other languages, her light shines brightly and we are so happy she came to stay with us for this short while!

Lisa Soehn, you are a spectacular human being!  May that twinkle in your eye continue to spread to all you meet!
Love always from Texas!

Lisa Soehn

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First pup of the year!


Our first pup of the year, an evening bat, snuggling under his proud mum.

We had a naming contest for Mother’s Da and got so many great suggestions; we loved them all!

Radar got the most votes, but we all have our personal favorites.

You’ll be seeing those other names soon as this year’s pups roll in!

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After the crowds leave,

After the crowds leave Congress Avenue Bridge, a few more bats take flight!
All the best girls!

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Reddit post cracks us up

Funny (and informative) post from David Curiel, the concierge at the Whisper Valley community.

Lone bat found on our solar equipment! from Austin

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Love from Laura and Jordi – thanks so much!

We’re not usually ones to toot our own horns, but these notes in our Bat Journal on our Information Table at Congress Avenue Bridge meant a lot to us.

Laura is great friends with Adria Lopez Baucells, whom we greatly admire, and Jordi knows Carles Flaquer, who visited our facility a few years back and is a wonderful person and dear friend.

Congress Bridge feedback

Congress bats climbed to altitude directly over the bridge Saturday night, then turned & headed way South, with the wind. Great visit with Laura & Jordi from Barcelona!  These lovely and gracious scientists are friends of our favorite bat people Adrià López Baucells & Carles Flaquer from Museu de Ciències Naturals de Granollers. This group is doing great work and we just love them. Look them up, follow them, and be awed!

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Red Blanket

This red bat is using her thumbs to stabilize her snooze on this windy day. She has her butt blanket pulled right up over her eyes and it looks like she’s closing her ear with her foot! She was found emaciated on the UT campus but is eating well and will be good to go in a few days. #batifyatx #batifyaustin #austinbats #atxbats #easternredbat #aesomebats

eastern red bat

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Friday the 13th

We got lucky on Friday the 13th and had lovely weather for our education table at the Bat Viewing Area.
We shared the wonders of bats with scores of out-of-towners.
We so enjoyed meeting Sonia from Austria, Anne from France, Ali & Xav from Paris, and that group of impressive women in town for the Anthropology conference, from Virginia, Canada, the UK and Cyprus.
What fun!  Thanks for visiting with us y’all!

We hope the bats were as lucky as we were!  We at the Bat Viewing Area all watched on live radar as  a lovely Seabreeze pushed insects toward the Hill Country and the Bracken bats foraged along the front.  But then things changed.
The lovely Seabreeze turned into wicked storms from the northwest.  Davis Blowout, Huber Limestone Mine, McNeil Bridge, and Congress Bridge bats all appeared to have been caught out in the storms.  We hope they sheltered at McNeil to escape the worst of it.
Bats caught in hailstorms frequently experience broken wing bones from the hail.  Guess we’ll see how many bats are found by humans and brought to us today. Bless their brave little hearts!

 

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Astonishing flight from Frio

On the evening of April 8th radar picked up the largest flight we have ever seen from Frio Bat Cave. Our guess is there were as many as 17 million bats in the air at one time around 2:06 Universal Coordinated Time or about 8:57 Central Daylight Time.

They emerged around 7:19 pm CDT and some went 80 miles SE to around Christine, TX
Most went at least as far as 50 miles to crop fields around Pearsall, TX.

 

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Pd Has Arrived

So here it is.

Pd (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) has been detected in two sites in Kendal county and two sites in Blanco county.  In addtition, it has been detected for the first time on a Mexican free-tailed bat.

We’re obviously devastated by the news that the fungus that causes WNS has arrived in our area. We, like everyone else here, had hoped for a little more time, but we knew it was coming. Although this is just the fungus, not yet the disease, we are nonetheless tweaking our rehabilitation protocols and stand ready to collaborate with state and federal agencies, BCI and other NGOs, and other Texas bat rehabilitators in monitoring and providing supportive care for Texas bats.

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