The strongest cold front in years blew through last week and bats in Austin suffered through the cold and windy nights.  Many fell, cold-stunned out of their roosts.  But kind-hearted people safely contained some and brought them to us for thawing, some bats every day for a week!  We filled their bellies with tasty mealworms and had the pleasure of sharing some Holiday spirit with them.   And last night it was finally warm enough to release many of them.
This little guy is your bat Jocelyn.  He’s a great bat and he would have died if you hadn’t cared enough to rescue him.  Thank You!
And thanks to Christie, Christina, Giselle, and Natalie stopping and taking the time to care for those bats you saved.  You are Heroes!

austin bat rescue release

Here’s Natalie’s bat flying off into the night to join the few thousand others overwintering under the Congress Avenue Bridge.
austin bat rescue release

 


Thanks so much to the Cottonwood Foundation for the generous grant to our fledgling organization!

The seed money they have provided will make a huge difference for the orphaned, injured, and displaced bats of Central Texas.

We are honored to join over 400 organizations whose diverse projects they have funded, including half-way homes for battered women, a library for children in Kenya, a dance studio in Harlem, a jobs program in the Bronx, arts in the Connecticut prison system, combating hunger, innovative pre-schools, peace work, disability rights, etc.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Austin Bat Refuge


We are so honored to have received a grant from the Pollination Project!
Thanks so much for believing in our mission!

The Pollination Project provides micro grants for social change projects worldwide.
This is a link to some of the projects they funded in 2016.
https://thepollinationproject.org/portfolio_skills/grants-awarded-2016/

austin bats Pollinatio Project
The Pollination Project values “compassion consciousness.”

Compassion consciousness means we think through and acknowledge the impact of our choices and our work: from the food we eat, to the questions we ask, to the office supplies we use, to the projects we fund and, ultimately, to the institutions and systems we challenge.

Thanks all!


Dear Bat Friends,
Please remember the little ones as we count our blessings.
Donate Now! to help Gabe the red bat and pups like this free-tailed baby.

eastern red bat austin bataustin bat Congress Avenue Bridge

As we enter the holiday season, the world celebrates community, supporting the causes that make the world a better place for all its inhabitants.  In our first year, Austin Bat Refuge has already created a center of gravity, attracting donations and a small core of young interns, many or whom will go on to careers in wildlife work.  In this season of giving, we ask you to get involved and support Austin Bat Refuge, the only organization in Central Texas caring exclusively for orphaned, injured, and displaced bats.

Your kind donation is critical to bats, our fascinating friends and allies.
Donate Here to help these wonderful, misunderstood beings.
Or write a check and mail to:
Austin Bat Refuge
P.O. Box 49902
Austin, TX 78765

Here are other ways you can show your support:
Sign up for our Newsletter:
Volunteer:
Donate Items:
and yes, as many of you have done, even
Rescue a Bat in Trouble

or simply:
Follow us on Social Media:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Those of you who have brought us an injured bat may have received the following note from us, thanking you for your efforts.  We’ll include it here for those of you landing here from social media:

Dear Bat Friend,

Thank you for your kindness in taking the time to rescue the bat you brought to us; we are in awe of the people who have gone so far out of their daily routine to help an animal in trouble.

We hope that you found it a meaningful experience. It meant a great deal to the bat you rescued, and to us; you are part of an ever-growing group of people who care for an animal that many find, at best, unlovable.

Attempting to rescue a bat can seem frightening for people who encounter them, displaced or injured, around their homes or workplaces, and you may even have been ridiculed by those who don’t understand that bats are worthy of care. But you know how rewarding it can be to make the effort to help wildlife.

If it is possible for you to donate, we ask for your financial assistance so that we can continue to serve as a refuge for the injured and orphaned bats that are brought to us by caring people like you.

Your donation will help save the lives of many more little bats in trouble, like the one you saved.
Please Donate Here

And please become a part of our team by joining our Bat Pack!

austin bat Austin Bat Refuge eastern red bat  austin bat
austin bat free-tailed bat Congress Avenue Bridge   austin bat

Austin Bat Refuge cares for these bats in a setting that minimizes their stress and fear.  Once critical care has stabilized them, they recover in a natural outdoor setting prior to release.  If non-releasable, they live a high quality of life with us in the bat gardens or in spacious indoor habitats with plenty of enrichment. Our many visitors have hearts and minds changed by the experience of seeing bats as we care for them. And seeing them in a natural setting is an educational opportunity leveraged by our social media that serves to counter eons of negative myths about bats.

We have cared for close to 750 bats in recent years (139 so far this year), with the majority of them being released back into the wild. If they make it through the first few days, we have a success rate of approximately 86% (which includes those non-releasable individuals living out their lives in our refuge).

Your tax-deductible donation to Austin Bat Refuge will be deeply appreciated, and promptly acknowledged with a document for your tax deduction.  We are an all-volunteer, state-permitted 501(c)3 NON-PROFIT organization and receive no government funding.  Our costs (not counting volunteer time) can be under $20 for a healthy, quickly-released bat to $200 or more for a bat with a broken bone. Bats that live out their lives in our refuge incur ongoing costs to keep them healthy and well fed.

It is our privilege to care for these orphaned, injured and displaced bats, and your support will give us the ability to do more. Please give us and them a helping hand by mailing a check to our P.O. Box address or contributing to Austin Bat Refuge at this link: Donations

ANY DONATION AMOUNT IS APPRECIATED! And if you can’t give money, please consider donations of volunteer time or items on our Wish List

Thanks so much for caring about these noble, valiant, and amazing flying mammals.

And do please become a part of our team by joining our Bat Pack! 

You’ll get our ABR Newsletter with notices for our springtime Bat Walks!

Thanks so much,

Lee Di (3)

Lee Mackenzie
512-695-4116
leemack@austinbatrefuge.org

Dianne Odegard
512-799-8847
Dianne@austinbatrefuge.org

Austin Bat Refuge
https://austinbatrefuge.org

 

 


Here we see what looks like the fall migration of Mexican free-tailed bats from Devil’s Sinkhole and Frio caves in Central Texas.
A 17 deg F drop in temp at dusk along with a 26 deg F drop in dew point seem to be the trigger.
We see them travel 100 miles SSW to the irrigated fields of Los Alamos, outside of Allende, Coahuila before they disperse.
They traveled about 116 miles in two hours, not the world speed record for mammals (99 mph) that the Frio bats hold, but not too shabby (58 mph).  They seem to be headed toward Cueva de la Virgen in Coahuila, a cave historically known to hold 350,000 Tadarida and 10,000 cave myotis.  We’d love to know if anyone is monitoring numbers at that cave and whether there is a big spike in numbers today and for how long.  If numbers surge there, will they stay all winter, or will numbers wane as they move further south?
Austin meteorological conditions at emergence are in a chart below the video.

fall-migration-devils-sinkhole-meterological-conditions


The Today Show came to visit Congress Ave Bridge and Bracken Cave for a story on Bat Tourism.

Featured is our Mexican free-tailed bat Freida and included is our radar video of the Bracken bats.

Too bad they didn’t credit us for either one of these!