Mexican Free-Tailed Bat

Tadarida brasiliensis

What can we say, this is the iconic bat of Central Texas. The star of the show at Bracken Cave, Congress Avenue Bridge, and many other bat viewing sites in the Central Texas SBA (Significant Bat Area). No superlatives are too much in describing this amazing species.

Here you can plainly see the characteristic tail protruding freely beyond the tail membrane, the pug nose and wrinkly lips, and the built in brushes on the fifth toe for grooming and keeping themselves fastidiously clean. Most expressive are the ears which often convey how the bat is feeling from moment to moment. When on alert they point upwards like an exclamation mark, when at ease they are held low and flat like a sombrero over the eyes. These are good bats.