The Nature Conservancy: Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve

New Milford CT

27 May, 2022

7:13 AM

Description

Press release from The Nature Conservancy: May 26, 2022 The Nature Conservancy will open its Mason County preserve to visitors during select evenings this summer, to share in the wonder of one of the country's largest maternal bat colonies It's bat season in Texas, and The Nature Conservancy's Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve will open to the public for select nightly viewings this June through August. Situated in Mason County, just southwest of Mason, the Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve is home to one of the largest bat nurseries in the country. Each year, between May and September, approximately 2 million pregnant bats migrate to the site from Mexico to give birth, each to a single pup. The offspring are born between June and July and by just five weeks of age, have grown and are ready to fly. The nightly emergence of the full maternal bat colony—now doubled in size—offers an unparalleled natural display for visitors of the preserve, until the young bats and their mothers return to Mexico in October. The emergence begins slowly, with a few hundred bats fluttering around the mouth of the cave. Then, a larger stream of bats makes their exit, flying in a large circle, low to the ground, just outside the cave's entrance. Gradually spiraling upwards, the dark funnel of bats—often referred to as a "bat tornado"—reaches several hundred feet into the sky before the bats stream away, over the countryside, as they scour thousands of acres searching for food. Experiencing this natural spectacle in person and learning about the critical ecology of the bat population through The Nature Conservancy's corresponding presentations has now become a long-standing Central Texas tradition. "We encourage visitors to come out and join us at the preserve's open nights this summer and experience one of the best nature-viewing destinations in the state," said Dan Snodgrass, Director of Land Conservation at The Nature Conservancy in Texas. The preserve will be open to the public on Friday and Saturday evenings, from June 10 through August 27, and the gates will open soon before the colony is typically emerging from the cave. As always, these dates and times are dependent on the weather and the recent flight activity of the bats; please call the Bat Cave hotline at (325) 347-5970 and listen to the recording for cave updates, open hours, and any weather-related closures before making your trip out to the preserve. For more information, please visit nature.org/texas and our preserve page devoted to the Eckert James River Bat Cave. This press release was produced by The Nature Conservancy. The views expressed here are the author's own.