South Texas natural candy, aka Texas persimmon here at the bat cave. Sweet membrane around some big seeds

We are at around 88°F tonight. It’s a beautiful evening

#Nature #iNaturalist #Bats #batconservation #batconservationinternational #brackencavepreserve

A baby Texas Spiney Lizard. They’re several running around my geology station tonight. It’s 99° F so everyone is trying to take advantage of the shade and thankfully the south east breeze.

#Nature #iNaturalist #Bats #batconservation #batconservationinternational #brackencavepreserve

Young armadillo rummaging in the understory next to the cave overlook. This little guy was looking for his dinner.

Bats are the major focus at Bracken Cave Preserve, but we are helping preserve close to 1500 acres in its wild state. This lets BCI host a variety of research studies here. Along with interacting with visitors at our bat flights and general trail maintenance, I also get to collect data on bird studies here at the preserve.
#Nature #iNaturalist #Bats #batconservation #batconservationinternational #brackencavepreserve

Last evening’s bat emergence at Bracken Cave Preserve. This goes on for 3 hours each night as the almost 20 million Mexican free-tail bats head out to feed. This was taken from our patrons’ viewing area which is across from the view I posted yesterday. (I had to relearn video format conversion to post this and was too tired to do it last night when I got home.)
#Nature #iNaturalist #Bats #batconservation #batconservationinternational #brackencavepreserve

This is the view from the cave overlook at Bracken Cave Preserve this evening. It’s almost 100°F and visitors are starting to arrive. I get talk to them out cave geology and all the benefits the bats bring.

#Nature #iNaturalist #Bats #batconservation #batconservationinternational #brackencavepreserve

Now with video, hopefully. This is an update to my earlier post with the addition of motion. This was taken at a recent bat emergence at Bracken Cave, Texas. This colony is the world’s largest concentration of mammals. It is a maternal colony of Mexican Free-tail bats that gathers each summer to birth their pups. 20 million bats (estimated) leave the cave each night at this time of the year as the pups are old enough to fly with their mothers to feed on mostly agricultural pests to our south east. This nightly exodus last about 3 hours every summer night.
#Nature #iNaturalist #Bats #batconservation #batconservationinternational #brackencavepreserve

Taken at last night’s bat emergence at Bracken Bat Cave, Texas. This is the world’s largest concentration of mammals. This maternal colony of Mexican Freetail bats gathers each summer to birth their pups. 20 million bats (estimated) left the cave last night as the pups are now flying with their mothers to feed on mostly agricultural pests to our south east. This exodus last about 3 hours every summer night.
#Nature #iNaturalist #Bats #batconservation #batconservationinternational #brackencavepreserve