For the second consecutive night, Mexican free-tailed bats leave the Sierras and head to Eagle Pass, then up to the Uvalde area.
Frio Bat Cave (outside Uvalde) had it’s first large emergence of the year the next night.
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Big bloom at D’Hanis Bridge, west of Hondo, the last few nights. We’ve seen little activity there all winter until just recently.
Surprisingly large blooms from Fern Cave Stuart Cave and Old Tunnel at 7:30 pm last night. Each bloom represents many hundreds of thousands of bats.
We expect big blooms from McNeil Bridge on warm winter nights, but in our experience it’s unusual to see such large blooms from the other roosts.
Win
The Flood family just became new members of the bat protection squad!
Thanks y’all for your act of compassion!
Here’s their post:
“We rescued this darling little Mexican Free-tailed bat earlier this evening as he was grounded in the middle of the road and nearly hit by several passing cars. We brought him home and called Lee and Diane at Austin Bat Refuge…they took him in and knew just what to do! 
💕 Thankfully he had no broken bones and he seemed to be very healthy. Afer some TLC from Lee and Diane @ Austin Bat Refuge, it sounds like he’s going to be ok and will most likely be released back into the wild! 
😊So thankful to them for all they do for these little guys… 💕If you ever find a grounded or injured bat, make sure to give them a call….and donate if you can! They have the biggest hearts for these little guys and do so much to house and care for the injured bats. Good people!!! Good cause!!! “
Close to a million bats emerge from Old Tunnel on the evening of January 16, 2017. This is the first time they’ve showed up on our radar since New Year’s Eve.
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!
Here’s Natalie’s bat flying off into the night to join the few thousand others overwintering under the Congress Avenue Bridge.
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!
Cold front – Snuggle Up! Free-tails don’t have any problem snuggling up to big ol’ yellow bats. Even when pups, we sometimes find single freebies right in the middle of a clump of yellow siblings.
This free-tail is so happy to be flying again and catching moths around the blacklight!
Soon to be back in the wild skies.
Just look at that smile!
Here’s an angle rarely seen of a Mexican free-tailed bat. If you look closely you can see the long “whisker” hairs sticking out between the toes. “Kind of like you honey” a bridge visitor said to his girlfriend this summer, right before she hit him, hard.
