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Sat. Jan. 26, 2019 - It is once again time for the annual Alabaster Bat Count. Time to count our hibernating friends in the cave. Last years count was down quite a bit (only 6,091) which we contribute to the movie crew that was in the cave for a few weeks disturbing the bats. This year we had another hitch in the plans... during Christmas break the cave had a side section & celiling collapse closing the trail from the beginning. Tours have to enter the exit, come to the big hall, then go back out. We went the whole way though. Here's our trip report. |
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| One of our first mats... nice size (not knowing what was coming later) | ||
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| Mel had her bat acustics program running. Pretty cool! | ||
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| Wow! This was one of the larger mats I've ever seen in Alabaster! | See... I actually do go on these trips... had to take a selfie to prove it!! <grin> | Future Facebook selfie & bats post! <grin> |
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| The exit was full of mats! Very nice to see!! | Our count was way up from last year. Last year we suspect the movie crew hurt our bat hibernation. | This year, the closing of the cave for a few weeks and then only about 3/5 of the typical tour makes a lot of nice quiet sleeping time for the bats! |
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| We always have to have the group picture at the end! | What is Mike doing? | Oh bragging!! What a great count!! Whoo hoo! |
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Click on any photo to see an enlarged version. |
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