The famed “Chicken Nuggets” of Texas cave tours — this is a tiny bat with an incredibly fast motor. They spin and click on the exam table to the point that they resemble wind-up toys, and they’re lightning fast in the flight cage.
Distinctive pink and orange forearms help identify them as they’re photographed leaving their roosts. Tri-colored bat fur is dark brown at the base, light brown in the middle, and medium brown on top — with a name like tri-colored bat, you’d think they’d be red, white, and green!
Although most commonly encountered in caves, they can roost in foliage during summer months. We often have them brought to us by people finding them roosting in folded-up patio umbrellas, and lately from upper levels of apartment buildings with open hallways — we think they fly into the openings because they resemble cave mouths.