Sunday, November 10, 2019

Bat Flight

One of the main places I wanted to see while visiting my sister in Las Cruces, NM was Carlsbad Caverns. This is the website for the caverns if you are interested. https://www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/carlsbad-caverns-national-park

This is my sister, Sarah, and the first photo is of me as we sat at the entrance to the Caverns.

As you first inter the park you have a few miles of road like this and then you come to the large building that houses the main entrance with the elevators that take you about 800 feet below the surface to see the actual Cavern's. It was fairly late the first day we got there so we decided to go to the nightly talk given by a Park Ranger about the bats that live in the Cavern's and then watch as the bat come out just at dark to feed on the many flying insects in the area. There are many thousands of bats that eat many more thousands of insects nightly. No, the bats will not get in your hair. They will do their best to avoid any contact with you. I did not see even one bat come near me. They came out of the caves in small groups that swirled up and then went way high into the sky. It was a thrilling experience to see. Just remember that no camera's are allowed at all while watching the bats. Any kind of electric device can disturb the bats so they can't use the sound location chirps  they make.



What was surprising to us was that the entrance to the caves was up on the side of desert mountain, You could look off and see for what felt like forever on one side of the parking lot. There were many native plants everywhere we looked. Like this ocotillo.



 We had driven to the Cavern's in the motor home so we wouldn't have to spend money on motel rooms. Here we are parked to go see the bat flight.

Prickly pear cactus.

This is the trail down to the seating for the bat flight.

Tomorrow we plan to actually go into the cavern's.

1 comment:

Cindy said...

It is especially lovely to see you in the picture too, bless you. I am enjoying your photos, as ever.