batsignals

•Stony Hill Cave
Working together to protect Critically Endangered Jamaican flower bats at Stony Hill Cave.
Working together to protect Critically Endangered Jamaican flower bats at Stony Hill Cave.
Photo: Bat Conservation International

Cave Purchase Protects Jamaican Flower Bat

Bat Conservation International and partners secure species’ only known maternity roost
In December 2021, Bat Conservation International (BCI) and Jamaica’s Natural Resources Conservation Authority finalized a land purchase to protect Stony Hill Cave in Jamaica, the only known maternity roost of the Critically Endangered Jamaican flower bat (Phyllonycteris aphylla). By purchasing a 0.25-acre parcel that contains the mouth of the cave, BCI and partners, including Jamaica’s National Environment and Planning Authority (NEPA), have protected vital habitat for the species. It also protects the four other bat species found in the cave.
Endangered Jamaican flower bat, Phyllonycteris aphylla
Photo: Angelo Soto-Centeno
For 20 years, before scientists rediscovered Jamaican flower bats in 2010, they were believed to be extinct. Concerns about property development nearby, as well as deforestation and land changes above ground—which lead to changes in the microclimate of the cave—spurred BCI and partners into action. Following the cave purchase, the Government of Jamaica is now responsible for the land, and a NEPA officer monitors and manages the site.

Now, BCI and partners are working to learn more about the bats, as well as collaborating with in-country partners to provide greater protection for the cave. Already, the team has completed a LiDAR scan to create a three-dimensional map of the cave and installed camera traps to monitor disturbance at the cave mouth. Further research will unveil even more about this elusive species and provide greater detail for the site’s management plan.

•solutions

Working to Find Solutions in Texas

BCI and partners support Huntsville community as warehouse scheduled for demolition
In Huntsville, Texas, a condemned warehouse owned by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ)—home to a large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis)—is scheduled for demolition, likely next fall or winter. The building housed three-quarters of a million bats, and Bat Conservation International and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) are working together to find the best ways to minimize impact to the bats and community.

The team has offered advice on how to professionally and humanely exclude bats from the building, and to repair TDCJ-constructed bat houses to provide effective alternative roosting spots. TPWD will support the community by coordinating resources for professional bat exclusion and rehabilitation.

a condemned warehouse in Huntsville, Texas
A large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats lives in a condemned warehouse in Huntsville, Texas, that is owned by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Photo: Jonathan Alonzo
•Annual Report

A Year of Adaptation and Discovery

2021 Annual Report now available
Bat Conservation Annual Report 2021 Cover
Between July 2020 and June 2021—as the world responded to a global pandemic, travel came to a near standstill, and bats were being unfairly maligned—Bat Conservation International (BCI) took a deep metaphorical breath and evaluated the effectiveness of our work and the sturdiness of our direction.

Though our suitcases were home, we often continued to work with scholars around the globe, as well as partners closer to home. We assessed our missions, updated our programs, and gathered research to publish scientific papers. We set up new, strategically located hubs to collect data, refined our data collection methods, and made thousands of files available to our partners in the North American Bat Monitoring Program. We also continued to survey abandoned mines and plant agave corridors.

We’re calling it “2021: Year of Adaptation and Discovery,” a year of accomplishments we’re eager to share.

Notes iconRead BCI’s freshly published Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report online at batcon.org/financials.
•Bracken cave
bats emerge from Bracken Cave
Watch bats emerge from Bracken Cave during a virtual event in honor of International Bat Night.
Photo: Jonathan Alonzo

Celebrate International Bat Night

Join Bat Conservation International for a virtual bat flight from Bracken Cave on Aug. 27
Did you know that every year since 1997, International Bat Night has been observed in more than 30 countries on the last full weekend of August?

Join us in celebrating these magnificent mammals on Aug. 27 as we broadcast the nightly emergence of 20 million bats at Bracken Cave Preserve live on Facebook.

Notes iconTune in: facebook.com/BatCon (Time TBD)
closeup of bats hanging out in a cave
Celebrate International Bat Night on August 27.
Photo: Jonathan Alonzo
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