High Country Life

If you’re fortunate, a summer evening in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) can present an awe-inspiring airborne ballet. Bats hunt insects in their nightly dance for sustenance.

Why are these mammals so adept at exploiting high mountain habitats? Researchers have sought an answer through morphology and phylogenetics.

How to Spot a Bat

As bats flit through the air at dusk, their extraordinary aerial acrobatics delight summer visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park. Their sight adds another magical layer to an already incredible twilight landscape!

Bats are easy to spot during the summer when they emerge at dusk to hunt insects. Bats work tirelessly at collecting as many insects as they can before returning to their roosts for hibernation in preparation for winter hibernation.

Finding bats requires finding a quiet location away from street lamps and porch lights, then waiting until bats begin emerging from their roosts to search for food. Arrive early so as to secure the perfect spot without disturbances from other humans or wildlife.

Once the sun goes down, bats become easier to find near water or open meadows with lots of insect activity. You might also spot them flitting between trees above you as they make quick dives for insects that land below. Noctule bats feature long, narrow wings that help them soar through the air like big butterflies.

One way of spotting bats is listening for their echolocation signals. Bats use echolocation signals reflected back from objects they encounter during their nightly travels to help pinpoint their position on earth.

Light can be very disruptive to bats as it interferes with their senses and navigation abilities. If necessary, use your flashlight cautiously: keep it pointed low and do not shine directly at bats themselves; alternatively some bat-watchers use colored filters on flashlights to lessen interference with bat behavior.

The Alpine Long-eared Bat (Plecotus macrobullaris) inhabits alpine ecosystems in Switzerland and Austria, where it may be unique among European long-eared bat species in that it utilizes high mountain environments for nesting purposes and relies heavily on moths as its food source.

What Bats Eat

Diet of a bat depends heavily on its environment. Certain species specialize in eating certain insects; Plecotus moth-eating bats for instance feed on tiny moths and gnats while other bats eat larger beetles, grasshoppers or bugs as their diet.

Bats cannot rely on their eyes alone to locate food at night, so they use echolocation to find their prey. Echolocation is a form of sonar that allows bats to emit high-pitched sounds and listen for any returning echos from nearby objects; when these echoes return they allow bats to accurately determine distance to prey and make precise movements to catch it.

Some species, like Neotropical fruit bats and Lepidoptera flower-eating bats, rely heavily on their sense of smell to locate fruits rather than their eyes. Bats can pick out dark green or brown fruits hanging from vines unobstructed by heavy tropical foliage; additionally, bats can detect sweet or musty odors emitted by flowers that produce strong scents to attract pollinators.

Most bats rely on their ability to seize and capture prey as they fly through the air, or catch fish or insects from water surfaces. Some species, like those migrating from Mexico to Texas and Arizona for flower eating purposes, are frugivores; eating seeds, flesh and fruits from figs, bananas, dates or other trees before devouring them with long noses and tongues in order to extract nectar from flowers.

Bats play an integral role in maintaining ecosystem balance. A recent study estimated that insect-eating bats save the United States agriculture industry an estimated annual cost of about $3 billion due to their role as predators of night-flying insects like mosquitoes.

Daylight hours find bats roosting in a variety of sheltered locations such as caves, mines, abandoned buildings or hollowed-out trees. Migratory species typically lay eggs during fall and winter while males store sperm until spring to fertilize their eggs with fertilization sperm stored away until then. Bats generally give birth to one young per litter although certain species produce twins or triplets.

Where to See Bats

Bats are generally nocturnal creatures, so the ideal time and place to see them is at sunset. Bats leave their roosts each evening to hunt insects in search of food sources such as bridges, streams, ponds and lakes – or you could watch from an observation platform in your own backyard if there are bushes and trees where bats hide out!

As temperatures fall and hibernation begins, some species of bats migrate while others hibernate in hibernacula for the season. Summit County boasts 18 known bat species; several can often be spotted roaming freely within our parks.

While many people gather on Austin’s Congress Avenue Bridge to watch bats take flight from beneath it, there are many other great spots around to view this enchanting spectacle. Arrive early for optimal viewing spots and face east to ensure maximum bat sightings!

Old Tunnel State Park in Hill Country provides another excellent bat-watching opportunity. Simply walk to one of their outdoor seating areas and watch as bats emerge from their cave at dusk to form a dark vortex known as a “bat-nado.” These bats then rise upward, creating an astounding sight as they climb upward in search of insects to hunt.

Elkhorn Slough Natural Area near Lake Havasu City provides another prime spot for bat watching, housing over 100,000 bats that can be observed during daylight hours. Visitors looking for an intimate experience with nature should head here instead.

Leptos Cave in Arizona’s White Mountains is another excellent location to see bats. Home of an endangered Long-nosed Bat species that feeds off pollen from saguaros and other agave plants in the area, Leptos is also an invaluable pollinator of these vital species in Arizona’s White Mountains.

And if you happen to be around when Townsend’s big-eared bats make their annual migration, you might even witness an amazing sight: thousands of these giant bats emerging simultaneously from their roosts – creating an enormous cloud in the sky!

What to Do if You Spot a Bat

Bats may have an intimidating reputation, but these fascinating nocturnal animals can be fascinating and beautiful creatures to observe at dusk. Witnessing their nightly aerial ballet can be truly captivating!

Female bats typically gather into maternity colonies during summer to give birth, making this an extremely delicate time when being disturbed may lead to their offspring being abandoned by their mothers. Therefore, it is crucial that observers remain silent and watch from a safe distance at this time of year.

Like other animals, bats may carry the rabies virus. Therefore, when handling wild animals such as bats it is wise to wear heavy leather gloves, and never touch an injured or distressed animal with your bare hands as this could lead to infection that could prove fatal.

Whenever you encounter a bat during the day, don’t approach it or touch it directly as this could frighten and distress it – potentially even leading to bites! Instead, cover it with cardboard so that it cannot escape, placing it in a dark, secure location away from children and domestic pets, then check back in on it the following morning to ensure the bat has not become distressed and/or has not fled its cage.

As temperatures become colder, some bats migrate while others enter hibernation; our bats at RMNP tend to choose hibernation over migration.

Bats are adept at finding holes in houses and other buildings, so it is vitally important to seal any openings which could enable them to gain entry during autumn. Caulk, hardware cloth, foam rubber, tar paper and chimney caps can all help deter bats from entering your home.

The alpine long-eared bat (Plecotus macrobullaris) stands out among European long-eared bat species by inhabiting mountain areas at higher altitudes. Researchers from UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country have discovered that four birds and one rodent share this bat’s geographical distribution, suggesting they might possess similar ecological features; suggesting high elevations play an integral part in European wildlife species’ evolution.