The aviary seems huge now that most of this year’s class has graduated from flight school. But now that they’re not grabbing all the visual attention, we can better analyze the skills of the more cryptic species, such as this evening bat, to decide who else is ready for release.
Kendalia bat from Linda Garriot
Vibrant young newcomers to the wild Austin nightlife scene, five shining stars took their rightful place in the sky last night. Dianne Odegard does the honors as the last of this year’s yellow pups wings her way off into the night, surveying her new domain and a possible palm tree roost.
Di & yellow bat at Poquito Creek
Yellow soaring up to the stars
home sweet home for our yellows (we hope)
What a great release last night! Such a joy to see them leap from the pup tent and circle above us in the twilight! We’ll miss their nightly insect hunting competition in the flight cage, but our hearts and minds go with them as they soar the night skies, ranging as high and wide as their hearts desire, flying wild and free! Indelible memories little bats, thanks so much!
Oh and your’re not quite ready to go yet sweetheart? Then you can stay with us, we’ll try again later.
Elise found this pup on her doormat back of 18 July 2016 and, being the kind-hearted person she is, took the time to carefully contain the pup in a box (without touching it!) and call us. He was a very young juvenile who seemed to have let go of his bridge roost before he was quite ready. After weeks of blended mealworm dinners he was finally doing the wing stretches and one-arm pushups that let us know he’s ready to try again. So last night we brought him out to the aviary and after just a little encouragement, he took off and flutter-puttered all around the cage till we lost track of him in the darkness.
It’s really surprising just how slow the pups are when they first take flight. They have a puppy-like appearance with their little ears sticking straight up and a slightly alarmed expression on their faces. It’s so great to see them slowly gain confidence and soon start to shred the enclosure!
Thanks Elise! You’re simple act of kindness meant a lot to us, but it meant the world to this pup.
Elise’s pup
It was a normal night in the aviary, watching the bats fly, seeing who looks ready for release and who needs more time. The eastern red pup that was low on the side wall this morning was flying beautifully so he seems to be recovered. The northern yellows were flying with astonishing speed and power and I just managed to get a shot of one of the pups (at bottom of the post).
All of a sudden, the yellows crashed back into their palm fronds, I looked up, saw a shadow, and just got this shot as a Barred Owl flew right over the flight cage with a bluejay in it’s talons!
All the bats took cover so I looked for the owl in a nearby tree and found it staring back at me.
I watched it feed on the bluejay for half an hour before it went on about its business. Just check out this series of photos!
After the shadow of the Barred Owl crossed over the aviary the second time, not a single bat flew for the next few hours!
Here’s the photo of the Yellow taken just before the owl crossed over the cage with the jay. Is it me, or is he shouting “Incoming!”
Found under tree next day
The bridge bats get all the press but these little beauties live in trees all around us and hardly anybody knows about them! Help us take care of our local bats by donating at austinbatrefuge.org. Pictured is one of this year’s red bat orphans.
For the Congress Avenue Bridge bats, the scariest time of year is 4th of July, when the annual fireworks display takes place just a few hundred yards to the east of the bridge. The bats are emerging at dark this time of year, exactly at the time the fireworks start. The emergence peaks around 9:30 pm this time of year, just when the fireworks are reaching their crescendo, seen in yellow on the left.
We normally see greatly reduced emergences for a number of days after the 4th.
Showing the pups how it’s done.
