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Mexican Free-Tailed Bats

Discussion

17 replies
Posted by David Kjaer on May 1, 2008 at 9:25 AM
Mexican Free-Tailed Bats
On my recent trip to Texas I had three encounters with these mammals, the first was whilst driving back to my daughters on I35 from Austin when I saw in the distance what I thought were Starlings going to roost but realized these were emerging and not going to roost. This was at Round Rock where some 2 million bats roost under the motorway and another colony of almost 1 million roost under the Congress Bridge in Downtown Austin. By far the most impressive was Frio Cave near Concan in the Texas Hill Country which is apparently the second largest colony in the world with some 10 to 15 million bats. The cave is some 17 miles long and it takes over an hour for all the bats to emerge. These are mostly females which come to Texas to give birth and can consume ther own body weight in insects in one night and it is estimted that this population can at times consume some 150 tons of insects per night. Another impressive sight are the Red-tailed Hawks that wait for the Bats to emerge and feed on them every night.

Canon 1D MkIII + 17-40 f4 at 17mm iso 800 1/1250 at f4.5
Posted by Rob Fisher on May 1, 2008 at 9:32 AM
David,

Great shot.

I really like the one bat - just off center - in classic bat silhouette.

Rob
Posted by Craig Churchill on May 1, 2008 at 9:42 AM
Hi David

Cracking!!!
Agree with Rob, that one bat makes this image work!!


Craig
www.craigchurchill.co.uk
Posted by Phillip Tomkinson on May 1, 2008 at 9:52 AM
Hi a nice image I have been to the cave in texas apparently when all the females have young and the males are there they can be as many as 45 million ? I remember spending nearly five hours as they all came out watching them fly off down towards the Mexican border.

Did you get the cave swallows they usually start coming before the bats come out.

Phil.

:toast: :toast: :toast: :wavey:
Posted by David Kjaer on May 1, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Hi Phillip

Yes there were about 500 pairs of Cave Swallows nesting at the cave entrance and it was fun when the bats were coming out watching the Swallows trying to fly back in!

David
Posted by Andy Shepherd on May 1, 2008 at 12:24 PM


Very nice capture David , must have been an awesome sight :toast:

Andy... :smile:
Posted by John Chapman on May 1, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Wow this is great capture and a beautiful sky.
John :toast:
Posted by John Robinson on May 1, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Wonderful!
JohnR
Posted by Barrie Courtenay on May 1, 2008 at 1:21 PM
Super image David :toast: :toast:
Posted by David Taylor on May 1, 2008 at 2:08 PM
Yes fantastic shot. The bats, the sky. Excellent.

:toast: :toast:
Posted by Andy Astbury on May 1, 2008 at 2:28 PM
Very handsome image David - great perspective :toast:

If it were mine I think I might just remove that tower structure though :wavey:
Posted by Dave Courtenay on May 1, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Thats just amazing-17mm wow and a stunning sky-a real specticle

Dave :toast:
Posted by Edwin kats on May 1, 2008 at 3:24 PM
Absolutely fabulous. Great colours in the sky and a lot of Bats. It all goes great together.

Good work.

Edwin Kats
Posted by Jeremy on May 1, 2008 at 3:53 PM
Agree with removing the tower in lower left, but otherwise, what a stunning shot!
Posted by Paula Graham on May 1, 2008 at 4:53 PM
Amazing sight and very good shot too.
Posted by Paul Inglis on May 2, 2008 at 4:09 AM
Hi David,

Fantastic story and awesome image!
:toast: :toast: :toast:
Posted by Barry Southon on May 2, 2008 at 5:47 AM
David

Great shot well captured.

Barry :wink:

Eastbourne / Kansas
Posted by Greg Hitchcock on May 5, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Wow, great spectacle, hope to see it myself one day. Great capture.

Greg