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| Welcome to the Selman Bat Watch | We check people in at Alabaster Caverns State Park up in the NW part of Oklahoma. | Mel, our leader (in orange), checks in the people who have been picked in a kinda lotto system. |
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| And those people arrive here at Alabaster to start their bat education. | One Big Brown bat watching us from the rafters above... little did anyone know! <grin> | Then they walk down to the park ampitheater for a small class and review of the rules |
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| We tell them about the Mexican Freetail Bats that they will see this evening, about 1,000,000 of them! | Mike (the park manager on the right) has been with us since the start too! | Then we bus them to the private property to do a nature walk and talk about the bats some more. These are guided tours as the critters might not be nice on the trail. |
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| These guys, no problem. | This guy... BIG problem. That's why we lead the trail...hopefully we're on the lookout for these!! | Then everyone sits in a meadow about 1/4 mile from the cave entrance and wait for the bat flight. You can't get near a Mexican Freetail Cave without almost getting knocked out by the guano and ammonia smell. |
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| Then the stars of the even come out (hopefully BEFORE the stars come out!) <grin> | They fly in a smoke pattern with no patterns alike. | Depending on the time of the tour (Early July) kids fly first then the moms fly (two seperate flights) |
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| or Late July where they are all flying together...both are pretty neat! | But if they fly above you, be sure you don't say OHHHH with an open mouth ... you might get a treat from the bat above! :) | |
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| Movie: Orientation, On the Trail, Bat Flight | ||
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| Movie: Bat Flight | ||
