refuge

Free Pest-Control Service for the Winter Garden

Frio 28Mar2016 UTC        Click to left for video

Last night, what looks like about 3-1/2 million bats emerged from Frio Bat Cave and headed south toward the Winter Garden area south of Uvalde, providing free pest-control service to farmers in a large area west toward Bracketville.  Hope they stayed clear of the turbines at the wind farm.  Anybody doing a count this morning?

UNQC_CREF_29.549999-100.41000428.580000_15367_10240_1_none_20160328004800_4

Posted on , updated on by The Refuge

Sunrise service work – Happy Easter!

Easter Bat – 911

First thing this morning we got a call from the Austin Police Department. Our first reaction? We didn’t do it! Then they said “We have a bat in the main building downtown, can Dianne come and help us?” So, ready to protect and to serve, we saved the APD from this bat. She sure does seem ferocious!

Posted on , updated on by The Refuge

The Bats are Back!

Bats are Back 16Mar2016 UTC HD   (Click on link to see video)

The bats are back at Congress Ave Bridge in Austin!

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This video from last night shows 3 or 4 separate flights from the bridge before a north front sweeps in, taking most of the bats along for the ride.
The last few years the bats have made sure to be back for the South by Southwest Music Festival.

The viewing is great these days, they’re coming out well before dark.

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Bats & Lighting UK Guidelines 2014

http://www.bats.org.uk/data/files/Bats_and_Lighting_-_Overview_of_evidence_and_mitigation_-_2014.pdf

First two paragraphs:
“These guidelines have been drafted in response to a rising number of developments and associated artificial lighting impacting
upon bat populations in the UK. There is increasing evidence of the impacts of artificial lighting on ecosystems and, as nocturnal animals, bats are likely to be impacted negatively. These guidelines are borne out of research undertaken by Emma Stone during her PhD investigating the impacts of street lighting on bats and provide a synthesis of the issues and evidence-based advice of the potential impact of lighting on bats and possible mitigation strategies.”
“These guidelines have been drafted with input from experts in lighting (Institute of Lighting Professionals), bat surveys, ecology and mitigation (Bat Conservation Trust), legislation (Natural England) and bat research and mitigation (University of Bristol) to provide the best current evidence and thinking in the field of mitigation of the impacts of lighting on bats. This document is aimed at ecologists, lighting engineers, architects, planners and ecologists in Local Authorities and Statutory Nature Conservation Organisations such as Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage or Natural Resources Wales.”
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Wild Austin Yellow

Wild Austin yellow       (click on link to left for video)

This northern yellow bat (Lasiurus intermedius) was blown out of an Austin palm tree in yesterday morning’s cold gusty winds. In the video, we see her using her feet to help control her “prey”, in this case, hand-fed mealworms. Although it’s hard to hear in the video, the yellow bats in our care have been the noisiest chewers imaginable.  We can hear them down the hall in another room as they demolish their dinner!

2-7-2016 4-11-39 PM

Posted on , updated on by The Refuge