Batty Batty Bat

 Last night I watched the local news. I was fascinated by the story of a silver haired woman who picked up the cold Mexican bats that fell from the bridge in Houston. She put the bats into empty boxes she had in her car. She brought 3 big boxes of bats to her home and put them in her attic! She infested her  house with bats! Is she batty? No. She works at a bat rehabilitation center. Two days later she was up on a mechanically elevated platform under the bridge and she released the bats while the television cameras filmed her and about thirty people watched. Fascinating! I looked up how many species of bats are in Texas. So here you go. This information was copied from Texas Parks and Wildlife.

List of 32 Bat Species Known to Occur in Texas

 Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) 

Big free-tailed bat (Nyctinomops macrotis)

Mexican (Brazilian) free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis)

California myotis (Myotis californicus) 

Cave myotis (Myotis velifer) 

American perimyotis (aka Tri-colored bat; formerly Eastern pipistrelle) (Perimyotis subflavus) 

Eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) Evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis) 

Fringed myotis (Myotis thysanodes) 

Ghost-faced bat (Mormoops megalophylla) 

Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) 

Long-legged myotis (Myotis volans) 

Mexican long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris nivalis) 

Mexican long-tongued bat (Choeronycteris mexicana) 

Northern long-eared myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) 

Northern yellow bat (Lasiurus intermedius) 

Pallid bat (Antrozous pallidus) 

Pocketed free-tailed bat (Nyctinomops femorosaccus) Rafinesque’s big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) 

Seminole bat (Lasiurus seminolus) 

Silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans) 

Southeastern myotis (Myotis austroriparius) 

Southern yellow bat (Lasiurus ega) 

Southwestern little brown myotis (aka Arizona myotis) (Myotis occultus) 

Spotted bat (Euderma maculatum) 

Townsend's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii) 

Western mastiff bat (aka Greater bonneted bat) (Eumops perotis) 

American parastrelle (aka Canyon bat; formerly Western pipistrelle) (Parastrellus hesperus) 

Western red bat (Lasiurus blossevillii) 

Western small-footed myotis (Myotis ciliolabrum) 

Western yellow bat (Lasiurus xanthiinus) 

Yuma myotis (Myotis yumanensis)

Unfortunately March is probably the earliest to see the bats emerging at sunset and March 1st I will be in Arkansas. Rats! Oh, wait. I can go during the daytime when the bats will be easier to see. Okay, that is cool.