The following is an article by Zeke MacCormack, a San Antonio Express-News staff writer:
Published in the San Antonio Express-News  April 5, 2018

Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from the Bracken Cave at dusk to foray for food on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. An estimated 20 million bats make Bracken Cave their home from March through November, making it the world's largest bat colony. MARVIN PFEIFFER/ mpfeiffer@express-news.net Photo: Marvin Pfeiffer, Staff / San Antonio Express-News / Express-News 2017

Photo: Marvin Pfeiffer, Staff / San Antonio Express-News
Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from the Bracken Cave at dusk to foray for food on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017.

 

In a double dose of troubling news, the fungus blamed for killing millions of East Coast bats since its discovery there in 2007 has been found in Central Texas and on a Mexican free-tailed bat — both firsts.

However, the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife announcement of those discoveries Wednesday noted that no Texas bats have been found exhibiting signs of the malady known as “white nose syndrome.”

“Biologists say it usually takes a few years after detecting the fungus for the disease to manifest,” said the release that identified four new Texas counties where Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus had been found, bringing the total to 10.
It previously was found on cave bats, tri-colored bats and Townsend’s big-eared bats.

In the San Antonio region, the fungus was detected on bats at two sites in Kendall County and two sites in Blanco County.
Kendall County is now the southernmost location in the nation where researchers have discovered the fungus, which was first detected in Texas in 2017 in the Panhandle, officials said.
The deadly illness typically strikes hibernating bats, causing declines of winter populations by more than 90 percent in some locations.
So its presence in free-tailed bats, which migrate rather than hibernate, raises a new series of concerns.
“They migrate in huge populations all over the country so they could spread the disease much faster,” said Jonah Evans, a TPWD mammalogist
The Mexican free-tail bat carrying the fungus was found at the Old Tunnel State Park in Kendall County, he said.
Evans described researchers as shocked by the results of testing on skin swabs that were collected from bat wings and muzzles between December and last month by a coalition of biologists from Bat Conservation International, Texas A&M University’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences and its Natural Resources Institute.

“We were disappointed to see that it had moved southward as fast as it has,” Evans said. “We all expected it would move around the state, but it’s kind of shocking to see it happen this fast.”
The recent testing also found the fungus on bats in Foard and Wheeler counties, in North Texas, officials said.
The TPWD release said, “Because bats usually produce just one offspring per year, researchers are concerned it could take many decades for some populations to recover from a major decline.”
A widespread outbreak of the deadly disease in free-tailed bats could hold financial implications for agricultural producers who rely on the winged mammals to eradicate insects that feed on their crops.

The estimated value of bat pest control is $1.4 billion annually in Texas, the TPWD release says.
“Mexican free-tailed bats are key predators of agricultural pests in Texas, primarily moths that feed on corn and cotton,” said Mylea Bayless of Bat Conservation International.
“Since white nose syndrome is a disease of hibernating bats, we’re cautiously optimistic that Mexican free-tailed bats — which don’t hibernate — will fare better than other species in terms of contracting the disease and experiencing mortality from it,” she said.
The free-tailed bat also is an iconic presence, she said, drawing visitors watch them emerge by the millions from Bracken Cave just north of San Antonio, the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin and other major colonies.

“This bat is special to Texas, which is one of the reasons that this news is particularly distressing,” Bayless said Wednesday.
Beyond trying to track the spread of the fungus, she said, “Bat conservation International is working with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and others to explore and test potential treatments for white nose syndrome.”

Zeke MacCormack is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | zeke@express-news.net | @zekemac


What it is like to finish a research trip. – Amy’s Costa Rica Bat Survey Blog cont’d

Costa Rica research life

Where am I?
Yikes, suddenly it is weeks later and I’m back in the United States. Time is a funny thing. When you are on a research trip you are controlled by time, you have a schedule to follow, places to be. There are things you have to do, and they take up all of your attention. As always, you complete your tasks. Then you look up and the whole trip is over. The theme of this blog is the transition from being in the field to coming back to wherever you call ‘home’. I will try to keep it short, but I feel like I just keep thinking of more things to
share to people who would like to start doing research trips but are unsure of what to expect.
The last time I wrote a blog post was over a month ago! Oops! The last few weeks of the trip were dedicated to wrapping everything up: get your data, organize the equipment, make sure everyone is on the same page for what the next steps are after everyone goes home. We made your typical 15-minute presentations the day before departing to the U.S. and everyone did well. After dedicating a significant chunk of your time and energy into a subject, 15 minutes becomes a short amount of time to discuss everything on which you have been thinking and working. But, like I said before, the last couple of weeks were a blur because every day had a plan and there were things that needed to be done.
Then, suddenly, you are transplanted back to from where you came. It is very weird to come home after ‘so long’ in a place much different from here. The trip really does not feel that long now that I am back. Houston, Texas (my hometown) is unlike anywhere else. It’s a lot of driving and concrete. Loud cars and limited wildlife. Days feel very short because things are very fast-paced. This is the polar opposite of Costa Rica. I believe I am experiencing ‘reverse culture-shock’, not only in terms of food and things of comfort, but of the staggering number of people and how ambivalent of environmental woes and responsibilities they are. You spend almost all your time on a research trip surrounded by people who think like you, act like you, understand and empathize with your motivations without need for explanation or dissection. Once that trip is over and you are reinstated into a big city with millions of people, it is an adjustment. But now is where it is necessary to take what I have learned and have been given the chance to see, and teach people and make interactions positive and inspiring. It’s easy to become complacent about the goings-on of far-away countries which do not pose a visible daily connection, especially in a big city where the problems feel disconnected or like your personal impact could not be that much.
Before I go on a rant about living in a big city, I shall get back to talking about the trip. I feel like the trip ended really quickly. At some point, at some lunch, we discussed the Tuckman Model stages of developing a project team: forming, storming, norming, and performing. The performing part is always the most fun and I wish it could happen sooner or longer in a trip. Having to disperse and leave the group after being in a productive groove is my least favorite part of the whole experience. Being back, I miss the people I spent all that time with. I miss the staff and people we met. I miss the food we ate, etc. You get the point. What do I think someone needs to be able to be a successful member of a research team? I would boil it down to flexibility and adaptation. Being able to adapt to change and the inevitable setbacks and redirects a project will have over its course, I believe, is the most important characteristic of a person with whom I would like to spend a significant piece of my time. If my partner is easy-going, patient, and ready to overcome any problem we encounter, that makes a project much easier and less stressful and more of a positive experience because there is someone I can count on to get things done.
After finishing the physical part of data collection, now I am staring at the incoming tsunami wave that is the analysis. Before graduating in May, I have data to analyze, a paper to write, a conference to attend, and a few presentations to give. So, the next few weeks of my life I will be staring at a screen, analyzing statistics and calls, trying to make sense of the data. I will probably cry a few times and read all of the statistics books I can handle. I will update as time goes on!
As always, feel free to contact me (ahall6@stedwards.edu).


What a great illustration of a moth jamming a bat’s echolocation!
Illustration by Chris Tullar from Aaron Corcoran.
This is a great depiction of what goes on in our flight cage every night (albeit with different species)!

Bats have been echolocating for around 25 million years and moths have been evolving defenses against them for just as long.
A bat has to be at the top of its game to make a living out there.

moth jamming bat


Second tri-colored in 2 days!  This one is in good shape, just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The other will need major rehabilitation.


Sixteen free-tailed bats have found their way to us during spring migration.  Thanks so much to all who cared enough to take time out of their busy days to give these bats a second chance.

Eight of the bats brought in have been released in the last few days; the others will need more work before they’re ready to go.

Here’s one being release by Kyndal under Congress Avenue Bridge.  This was a young female saved by Rachel Stewart from a sidewalk at 6th & MoPac on March 12th.  You can just barely make out the green identification lipgloss on her right ear.

and a close up of this same photo


Fawn is a beautiful northern yellow yearling who is ready for release.  She came to us late last summer, and we over-wintered her because she simply did not seem ready for release until late fall, when food started to get scarce.  Now’s the time to get her weight up and shoot some video to help us remember her.  She has been so patient with us, trusting us to do the right thing for her and now is the time to reward that trust.

Studies have shown that the joy engendered by an event is not diminished by accompanying sadness, but that joy is actually increased by such sadness.  The resulting poignancy is an extremely powerful emotion and this is what accompanies each and every release of an orphaned bat pup. We worry about them in so many ways; will they find a roost, food, a mate? Will they evade predators long enough to reproduce?  Will they realize that not all humans will treat them with kindness?  Will they be successful without the benefit of their mothers to show them the way?

But we’re so happy for them to have that second chance!  The worst outcome for us is the always present possibility that they will die in our care, without experiencing the wild life they were born to live.  We want to make sure the cold weather is behind us and that insects are abundant once again, and then it will be time.  We can’t plan such an event, the timing is always a spur of the moment instinctual feeling that she’s ready, the weather is cooperating, the stars are aligned, and the bat gods are smiling upon her.

All the best dear one!  You have given us so much joy! Make lots of yellow bat babies!  Live a long, happy life!

northern yellow bat Fawn


Work is about to start on the new Trail Bridge at Congress Avenue (under the north side of Congress Avenue Bridge).  There will be a  lovely bat viewing area incorporated in the Bridge with a view of emerging bats in the evening and this lovely bat art by day! (Nice job somebody!)

Bridge crevices are customarily sealed above the trails to prevent guano build-up, so the new trail “bump-out” will require the sealing process to move out over the new trail location.  We’ve been consulting with The Trail Foundation on how to safely seal the crevices without harming any bats and they’ve been great at incorporating our suggestions.

We’ll be at the Groundbreaking Ceremony coming soon!  They have already had utility crews marking the location of underground utilities in the vicinity of the excavation, so it could start any day now

Just today two kayakers scooped up a little female free-tail (photo below) from under the bridge at this very area, and a concerned jogger called us to come help her.  She was real cold and wet, but no serious injuries, so we’re hoping for the best!  Maybe she can be an ambassador at the Groundbreaking!

 


05 March 2018

Uptick in free-tailed bat calls during the day and sure enough, 3 big flights from Congress Avenue Bridge in the evening!
First at 5:47 pm, next at 6:27 pm, and last one at 6:47 pm.

This is a good week earlier than normal for the Congress colony.
Recent studies have shown Tadarida have been migrating two weeks earlier than usual the last few years, but this ups the ante even more.

 


Bats are back at Frio!  First flight since before Christmas!
We’ve been seeing at Fern & Stuart starting ten days ago, but they have been hunkering down during the last cold snap.
With the first few warm nights, they’ve moved back into Frio Cave.
Welcome back beauties!