So here it is.

Pd (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) has been detected in two sites in Kendal county and two sites in Blanco county.  In addtition, it has been detected for the first time on a Mexican free-tailed bat.

We’re obviously devastated by the news that the fungus that causes WNS has arrived in our area. We, like everyone else here, had hoped for a little more time, but we knew it was coming. Although this is just the fungus, not yet the disease, we are nonetheless tweaking our rehabilitation protocols and stand ready to collaborate with state and federal agencies, BCI and other NGOs, and other Texas bat rehabilitators in monitoring and providing supportive care for Texas bats.


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


The National Fish & Wildlife Foundation asked us to “represent” as they announced grants given for “Bats For the Future” at the Shell Campus in Houston’s Energy Corridor. Nothing like seeing live bats up close and personal.  Our “Bat Ambassadors” were the stars of the show!
Thanks NFWF!
bats for the future


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.

Austin bat presentations outreach programs talks education

Austin bat presentations education talks outreach programs Congress Avenue Bridge

 


We’re obviously devastated by the news that the fungus that causes WNS has arrived in Texas.  We, like everyone else here, had hoped for a little more time, but we knew it was coming.  Although this is just the fungus, not yet the disease, we are nonetheless tweaking our rehabilitation protocols and stand ready to collaborate with state and federal agencies, and other Texas bat rehabilitators in monitoring and providing supportive care for Texas bats.
https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20170323c&nrtype=all&nrspan=2017&nrsearch=

 

austin bat Texas bats WNS


Renee found this bat on 11Mar2017 near her front porch in the rain, weak and not moving.  We hand fed him for eight days to build up his strength and last night he took his first few flights in the aviary.  He was out of practice and not real strong that night, but tonight he did much better, even took a few drinks on the wing!  He should be ready to go soon!

Austin bat rescue refuge rehabilitation


So our tri-colored bat checks out clean under the black light, no orange fluorescence, no spotting in normal light, we think she’s clean for Pd, no White-nose Syndrome.
She’s not sustaining flight however.  She flew the length of the flight cage once but landed and has only taken short flights since then.  It is said that they are sporadic flyers with a short elliptical flight patterns, so this may be normal.  But she did not fly away when she had the opportunity as we were collecting her, so we’ll need to check her out some more to make sure she has the strength a bat needs to survive in the wild.

On the left is the recording of her call as she made that one flight down the length of the flight cage.  On the right is a call from the reference library of a tri-colored bat in Mammoth Cave State Park in Kentucky from back in 2007.  Tragically, tri-colored bats in that area have been decimated by White-nose Syndrome, numbers have plummeted 80% since it’s arrival in 2013 and that song is likely not heard very often in that area nowadays.  How sad to think of all the bats that have perished from this terrible disease.  And awful to think we’ll likely be dealing with it ourselves in a year or two.

Tri-colored bat sonogram & reference call

She weighs 8 grams!  So surprising that a tiny bat would weigh so much.  She looks about the same size as our evening bat Zonker, not way smaller as we would have expected.


The Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife petitioned the US Fish & Wildlife Service this week to list the Tri-colored bat as endangered.  This petition recognizes the impact of WNS spreading into the Southeast and Midwestern US.

TricoloredBatPetition_06-14-2016