2024-5-31 Bracken Bat Cave

 

Bracken Cave is the summer home to the largest colony of bats in the world. An estimated 17 million Mexican Free-tailed bats make their home here from March through October. This is basically a bat nursery where females come to have their babies and raise them. No males allowed here.

Bat Conservation Internation (BCI) owns about 1700 acres of land which they purchased beginning in 1991. They manage the site and are restoring the land to its original habitat.

We arrived at the gate to the property and had to wait until everyone on the guest list was there before we followed volunteers into the property. Once parked, we were allowed to walk some trails where there were some information booths set up about the area and bats. Did you know that saltpeter is extracted from bat guano. Saltpeter is a key element in making black powder or gun powder. Gathering of guano was going on back during the civil war.

There was a shaft inside of a covered area that goes into the bat cave. This is where they used to gather the guano. That hasn't occurred since about 2009 due to the possibility of spreading a fungus which causes the white nose syndrome that can wipe out bats.

The shaft is located in here. The guano was hauled out through here in 50 pound bags. In addition to saltpeter, guano is also used as fertilizer. The smell here was extremely strong.

This cactus paddle was naturally heart shaped not cut in any way.

Painting of the cave entrance.

This is the underground formation of the cave.

This is looking across the sunk in entrance to the cave. You can just see the benches on the other side where you actually sit to watch the bats.

A few candid warnings along the path.

Lots of info about the area also presented.

Interesting bugs near the ara overlooking the opening of the cave. One of the women in charge showed them to us ad told us all about them but I cannot remember the name. She said that they are few and only around for a short time.

Looking across at the cve opening.

This woman gave us a great presentation about the bats.

She said their wings are sort of like our fingers. This picture shows them much enlarged.

Did I mention that this is a nursery cave. only mothers and babies. The mothers go out to feed on moths in the fields every night at dusk and return at dawn. If a baby should fall from the ceiling or if the mother doesn't come back, the baby dies. And it begins.

With a slight whirring sound, the exodus begins.

With over 15 million bats, the exodus of mothers takes literally hours. We watched for an hour before heading out. It was a great experience.