Nature Conservancy of Texas' bat cave preserve near Mason provides summer
education, entertainment for families
Evening flight of 1 million bats is a natural wonder that also benefits
agriculture
EDITORS:
* Interviews with Nature Conservancy staff experts are available by
calling Paco Felici, 512- 784-2375.
* Photos and a fact sheet are available for download at
nature.org/texas
* Admission fee, hours and directions to
the preserve are at the end of this
news release
MASON, TEXAS — June 2, 2008 — The Nature Conservancy of Texas’ Eckert James
River Bat Cave Preserve in the Texas Hill Country has opened for the summer
to allow families to experience the spectacle of evening bat emergences. The
preserve is open to the public each summer and early fall, when it serves as
a maternal colony where more than a million female Mexican free-tailed bats
come to give birth and raise their bat pups.
(http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/texas/files/bat_cave_profile.pdf)
(http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/texas/press/images/mexican_free_tailed_bats.jpg)
(http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/texas/files/eckert_bat_cave_ashley_mcbride_100_1082.mov)
_Download (PDF)_
(http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/texas/files/bat_cave_profile.pdf)
Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve profile _Image_
(http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/texas/images/mexican_free_tailed_bats.jpg)
-
Mexican free-tailed bats © Lynn McBride (JPG)
_Watch a Video_
(http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/texas/files/eckert_bat_cave_ashley_mcbride_100_1082.mov)
(Quicktime)
Bats emerge from cave entrance at dusk.
During the summer “bat season,” the public is invited to visit the preserve
between mid-May and early October to see bats emerge by the thousands and
learn why bats play a critical role in ecology that also benefits Texas
agriculture.
Vicki Ritter, a longtime resident of the Hill Country town of Mason, is
beginning her third year as The Nature Conservancy’s bat cave steward. She
generally oversees the preserve and provides interpretation of the bats’
natural
history to visitors. She describes the nightly emergence of the bats from their
cave as “an astonishing phenomenon of nature.”
“About an hour or two before sunset, you can hear and see hundreds of bats
fluttering and chirping just inside the cave,” she said. “Gradually, they
come out to fly in a circle just outside the mouth of the cave, and eventually
they move up into the sky in a spiral reaching several hundred feet in the
air, like a huge bat ‘tornado.’ Finally, the bats start breaking off into
columns and move across the countryside. This can last for two hours or more.”
Ritter takes care to point out that Mexican (also called Brazilian)
free-tailed bats and other bat species provide benefits to humans beyond an
awesome
spectacle. They are major consumers of flying insect pests – scientists
estimate this species eats 6,000 to 18,000 metric tons of insects annually in
Texas
– providing significant assistance to agriculture.
She cites a study published in 2006 in the scientific journal Frontiers in
Ecology and the Environment that focused on an eight-county region of South
Texas near Uvalde, showing that Mexican free-tailed bats protect corn, cotton
and other crops against insect infestation. Researchers for the study reported
that the value of pest suppression provided by the bats is close to $1.7
million each year in the region studied, reflecting the value of crops that
otherwise would have been lost to insects and dollars saved by farmers through
decreased use of pesticides.
Fortunately, she said, Mexican free-tailed bats do not appear to be affected
by a mysterious new disease known as _white-nose syndrome_
(http://www.nature.org/tncscience/misc/art24417.html) , which has been
devastating populations
of bats in the northeastern United States. The cause of this disease –
characterized by a white fungus seen around the nose, ears and wings of bats
in New
York, Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts – is yet unknown. Nature
Conservancy and other scientists have launched a massive effort to discover
the
cause and spread of the disease.
The Nature Conservancy originally acquired the 8-acre preserve next to the
James River in 1990 as a donation from Richard Phillip Eckert and Virginia
Eckert Garrett in honor of their father, Lee Eckert, and grandfather, W.
Phillip
Eckert, Ritter said. Through generations, the family conserved the cave and
allowed members of the community to come experience nightly bat emergences.
When they donated the property to the Conservancy, their sole condition was
that the land around the cave remain open to the public for enjoyment and
education, as it had been for more than 100 years.
Vicki Ritter’s role as interpreter and caretaker of the cave is also one of
family tradition; her daughter, Melissa Ritter, served as the Conservancy’s
bat cave steward for three summers before her mother took over the role.
An unrepentant fan of bats – particularly the Mexican free-tailed bat, known
to scientists as Tadarida brasiliensis – Ritter jokingly calls herself “the
bat granny.” Fittingly, she is accompanied on most of her visits to the cave
by her 9-year-old grandson, Jordan.
Ritter is eager to dispel myths about bats being vampires (only a few rare
species drink animal blood), getting caught in people’s hair (their use of
echolocation to move around is very precise) or carrying rabies (the incidence
of rabies in bats is very low). Nevertheless, she underscores the need for
people to recognize that bats are wild animals and should not be handled or
interfered with.
Experiencing the evening emergence of bats from their cave also provides
families with riveting entertainment, she said. In July, when the bat pups
begin
to emerge with their mothers, they can be identified by their awkward
attempts at flight amid the other bats. Around the mouth of the cave and in the
skies above it, predators of bats, including hawks, owls, raccoons and
non-poisonous coachwhip snakes, are frequently sighted.
The Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve is open from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday
through Sunday from mid-May to early October. Admission costs $5 for visitors
age 5 and older. Since the time of the emergence varies slightly and the
preserve is subject to closure from weather events, visitors are asked to call
(325) 347-5970 before coming out.
Directions: From the southeast side of the Mason town square, follow Highway
87 South about 1 mile to FM 1723 and turn right. After 4.8 miles, turn right
on FM 2389. Cross two bridges over the Llano River and turn right on James
River Road. Watch for deer and cattle on the road. The pavement ends, but
continue on the James River Road past the paved turnoff to the right. Cross
the
James River at the ford and drive about a half-mile to a sharp left turn. The
gated entrance to the Bat Cave Preserve is on the right at this curve.
Follow the road to the parking lot.
To learn more about The Nature Conservancy of Texas’ Eckert James River Bat
Cave Preserve, visit _nature.org/texas_ (http://www.nature.org/texas) .
_http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/texas/press/press3522.h
tml_
(http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/texas/press/press3522.html)
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