Written by Candy B. Harrington, Emerging Horizons, September 14, 2021
Although the wonders down under in Carlsbad Caverns are certainly worth exploring in detail, there’s another natural phenomena that you don’t want to miss topside. The bats. That’s right, I said bats –200,000 to 500,000 of them to be more precise. Each evening from late May to late October they exit the natural entrance en masse, and to be honest, these bat flights at Carlsbad Caverns are something you just don’t want to miss.
Bat Flights at Carlsbad Caverns
Although there are several species of bats that live in the caverns, the Brazilian free-tailed bats are the ones that exit the cave in the evenings. They are a migratory species, and they return to Mexico for the winter months, but they continue to come back to the caverns every summer. And apparently Carlsbad Caverns is attractive to them due to the safety, space and food sources that the caves offer.
Park management is also credited with putting policies in place that encourage the bats to return. First and foremost, they have limited the development of the caverns in the areas that the bats favor. Additionally, the damage inflicted by the early 1900s guano miners has been repaired.
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