Dr. Dirt - Batty for Bats

Question: Does Lea County, New Mexico have Bats active in our night sky?

Answer: Yes, several species of Bats fly in Lea County. There are actually 25 species found throughout the New Mexico.

Types of Bats: Mexican free-tail, Eastern red, Brown, Leaf-nosed, Vesper, Hoary, Mouse-eared to name a few, but there are more.

Bat Facts:

·       Carlsbad Caverns National Park caves hosts 17 species of bats, Free-tails most common.

·       Brown bats can capture 500 to 600 mosquitos per hour.

·       Bats can live up to 40-years in age.

·       1300 different bat species reside around the world, 42 species America, 25 New Mexico.

·       Bats are great pollinators for certain plants and eradicators of farm insect pests.

1.     Bats are the only ‘true-flying’ mammal –they are NOT birds, fur covered and warm blooded.

2.     They are communal dwellers, living in large colonies in caves, canyon walls, tree tops, under large man-made structures such as bridges/overpasses and even in structures-buildings.

3.     Baby bats are known as pups, and usually one pup is born in June by live birth. They feed off of their mother’s rich milk supply. Pups, from the Mexican Free-tail bats grow quickly on this rich milk and are ready to fly in 4 to 5 weeks from birth.

4.     Some bats create a ‘maternity’ colony. ALL MOMS! NO MALES to deal with, the boys create a ‘bachelor’ colony away from the maternity colony. The small Mexican free-tail bats can have up to 500 pups per square foot –now that is a lot of baby bats, yet each mom can find her own pup by sense of smell and knowing the sound the pup’s call. WOW that’s is an amazing feat. Especially, when you have 1,000’s of baby bats hanging in the maternity colonies.

5.     By August/September, ALL pups are flying and foraging for insects and water on their own. This the time to visit Carlsbad Caverns or numerous bat-flight caverns and other sites in Texas to witness spectacular emerging masses of bats that have doubled in size with the baby bats flying with the adults. This is a short-lived event as the cooler weather of October signals to the bats to begin their annual migrations to Mexico for their over-wintering ranges.