This beautiful cave myotis (Myotis velifer) was hanging motionless in the same location for four days in the corner of Cait’s balcony. She was worried about him and was kind enough to contain him and have us check him out. He turned out to be just fine! We fed and hydrated him for a few days and released him tonight. Thanks for caring Cait!
These two girls were rescued from separate Houston apartment complexes back in June. They’ve been with us all summer and have just now recovered their strength. The one on the left was not flying well just two weeks ago, but last week started sustaining flight and had the red “no-go” tag removed (actually red lip gloss on the ear). They’ll be so happy to be in the soft-release box; they can stay there until they find a great new home!
Great work Di! The first two talks were to veterinarians at the Convention Center, the last one for the Rotary Club on their riverboat cruise. The boat cruise was really great! The city looked beautiful at night and the bats were translucent in the bridge lights!
Our former neo-nate D-Day had his big night last night! He and all his classmates joined the Congress bat colony, in plenty of time to integrate prior to their migration south in a few weeks to come. So thrilling to watch them go!
D-Day was found on June 6th as a newborn pup clinging to the top of the bridge with just his feet and tail sticking up under the railing.
Dianne rescued him and hand-raised him and his free-tailed classmates from little specks, so tonight was emotional, as the end of their captive upbringing and the beginning of their new life as part of the wild Congress Avenue Bridge colony! Go with the bat gods, with the wind, with your guts, little pups!
Danielle O’Neil’s great photo of D-Day at 3 weeks:
Just to train them correctly, we waited until all the tourists left before releasing them from the top of the grassy slope of the bat viewing area ;). (It seems the Congress colony waited to emerge until the crowd of tuna boats, kayaks, LED lights, and red lights went away, before they emerged.) So our pups will learn from the best! That means, of course, that our pup also did not cooperate with the paparazzi, so no videos or photos of the release! Good bats! This photo from the flight cage earlier in the season.
People from Poland, France, and Alaska all came to see the emergence last night! We love having our information table at the bridge to help inform the tourists about the bats.
Love you little bat! Go have a happy happy life!
Here’s a last look at you pre-release
You look so good up there! Look at all those quick darting moves! Are you showing us how happy you are to be wild and free?
Here’s our boy pre-release. We’ll miss his antics and amazing leaf dancing!
And here’s his final wave goodbye! He is a fine young bat and we have every confidence he will live a long and happy life!
Morris! Last leaf bat of the year heads out. And what a great bat he was!
You were so much fun little bud! We’ll miss you! All the best!
Good-sized crowd – Great emergence at Congress Avenue Bridge. Even though they flew right about dark, they were backlit by the city lights and everyone down below got a great view!J
We love to watch the behavior of the bats while they are hunting. The top photo shows a red bat echolocating a moth above his head just before he loops up to attempt a capture. We’re not sure if he caught one this time, but the bottom photo shows him flying around with a moth he captured a few minutes before the top photo was taken. The photos are obviously out of focus, but they capture hunting behavior so well that we had to post them.
Free-tailed pup trying on his scary face for Halloween. We’re not buying it – still way cute!
Best Insta-replies?
From pink_1101floyd “Fire the lasers!”
From 747mandi “Game face!”
