One million bats stir up visitors
The nightly exodus of one million Mexican free-tailed bats attracts Oklahomans to the Selman Bat Cave near Freedom, OK. On summer evenings, clouds of beating wings swirl from the cave’s entrance.
Melynda Hickman, natural resources biologist for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC), coordinates the Selman bat watch events.
“For about 20 minutes, columns of bats rise against the setting sun,” Hickman said. “In addition to providing an amazing spectacle, they’re an enormous economic benefit to local farmers and ranchers. We estimate they eat 10 tons (20,000 pounds) of mosquitoes, moths and beetles every night.”
The Selman Bat Cave is one of only five sites in Oklahoma visited by a maternity colony of Mexican free-tailed bats. Migrating from Central and South America, the female bats spend the summer months at Selman where they birth their young, called pups.
“By July, most of the pups are flying,” Hickman said. “That doubles the number of bats emerging from the cave.”
Traveling from as far as Texas, Missouri and New Mexico, more than 5,000 people have seen the exodus of one of the largest Mexican free-tailed bat colonies in America
The destruction of cave sites, human disturbance to roosting sites and the use of pesticides have resulted in the decline of free-tail’s numbers.
“It’s exciting to offer this unique opportunity to get close to wild bats leaving their cave in search of insects. Visitors gain a deeper appreciation of bats and of their importance to our environment and economy,” Hickman said.
The bat watches begin at Alabaster Caverns State Park. From there, buses transport visitors to the Selman Bat Cave Wildlife Management Area, which is usually closed to the public. Visitors may participate in a short, interpretive nature walk led by biologists and trained volunteers while waiting for the bats’ emergence.
Sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, the state’s only public bat viewing occurs at 6:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday nights, July 11 through Aug. 9. Group-size is limited to 75 people per night. Adults cost $8, youth $5. Registration deadline is June 28.
A “Nature at Night” program is offered the evenings of Aug. 8 and Aug. 9. Following the bat watch, visitors explore the sandsage prairie in the dark. The program is limited to 20 adults.
To register, contact ODWC’s Wildlife Diversity Program at (405) 424-0099 or log onto www.wildlifedepartment.com, click on Watchable Wildlife and follow the link to Selman Bat Cave.
The Wildlife Diversity Program of Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation works to monitor manage and promote the wildlife species in Oklahoma that are not hunted or fished.
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