Austin

Atlas Obscura’s SXSW Bat Watching Evening with Merlin

Teresa Nichta

By Teresa Nichta
3/15/19

Atlas Obscura features travel, exploration and hosts a collaborative guide to worldwide locations of special interest. Bats seem a perfect fit with a publication featuring the world’s hidden wonders! This week, they hosted their first Austin bat watching event, an armada of more than 50 kayakers, led by organization co-founder Dylan Thuras and Merlin Tuttle and sponsored by SXSW, Gore-Tex and Congress Avenue Kayaks.

Atlas Obscura co-founder Dylan Thuras and Merlin Tuttle discussing evening plans as they don life jackets.

 

Merlin provided a brief dockside introduction to the Congress Avenue Bridge’s famous free-tailed bats and an introduction to the diversity and importance of bats worldwide. Participants came from as far away as Australia and Brazil and peppered Merlin with enthusiastic questions. The event was so popular that an unfortunately large number of hopeful registrants had to be turned away.

Merlin introducing the world of bats to participants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful spring evening, and some 200,000 overwintering bats emerged prior to sundown. Hundreds of thousands more are expected to arrive soon, migrating north from overwintering caves in Mexico. Unusual entertainment was provided by two small falcons, extraordinarily determined to feast on bats. Fortunately for viewers rooting for the bats, these two hawks turned out to be the least competent bat catchers Merlin has ever seen. We counted more than 20 failed chases!

 

 

Heading for the water.
Meeting new friends from around the world.
Such a view!
The Batman answering more questions.
The bat flight begins.
Watching small falcon repeatedly, but unsuccessfully attacking column of departing bats (center left)
Dylan and Merlin still watching failing hawks chase bats during their down-river return.

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PechaKucha with Batman

Paula Tuttle
PechaKucha [ or ペチャクチャ translated as “chit-chat”] is a series of 6-minute talks from presenters in the creative industry including artists, musicians, architects, filmmakers, writers, entrepreneurs, and local personalities. Each presenter showed 20 images, each lasting for just 20 seconds. PechaKucha events foster the art of concise presentations.  This year’s PechaKucha Night Austin #32 was held in Austin on October 11, 2018. Merlin was honored to be invited by Austinites DJ Stout and Lana McGilvray, the hosts of PK ATX.
The following ten speakers each had 6 minutes to promote a subject in their area of expertise. Merlin, of course, promoted bats with emphasis on those in Austin and had an outstanding response. Watch his presentation!
  1. Herman Dyal – Graphic Designer/Architect
  2. Gretchen Harries Graham – Educator
  3. Dave McClinton – Graphic Designer/Artist
  4. Refugee Is Not My Name (Aaron Weiss, Jess Archer and Ashley St. Clair) – Art Collaborators
  5. Brian Beattie – Musician/Producer
  6. Dale Whistler – Artist/Sculptor
  7. Sarah N. Evans – Activist
  8. Randal Ford – Photographer
  9. Merlin Tuttle – Batman
  10. Mélat Kassa – Musician
Check out those bats! Beautiful poster made by Pentagram design firm.

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Counting Free-tailed Bats in Bridges

Merlin Tuttle

9/10/18
By Merlin Tuttle

Merlin inspects Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) moments after removing them from their bridge crevice roost for counting.

For many years we’ve wondered just how many Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) could cram into a single 18-inch-deep bridge crevice. Accurate counts of large colonies are difficult no matter how they’re made. However, when estimating bridge colonies, it would help if we knew the number, using an average horizontal foot of crevice.

The solution seemed easy. Two years ago, Glen Novinger, an MTBC member and I, inserted two, three-quarter-inch-thick wooden frames, each encompassing a square foot of interior space, into bridge crevices of the same width while the bats were out feeding. The idea was to later slowly remove them, forcing those roosting inside to exit into a cloth-lined bag from which we would count them.

However, the bats were full of surprises. The first night we waited patiently till half an hour after we’d seen the last ones leave—or at least that was what we thought! But when we approached to install our devices, roughly half remained inside. I couldn’t help but wonder how many emergence counts had missed those that, for whatever their reasons, didn’t emerge at sundown. (more…)

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Texas Department of Transportation Celebrates Bats

Teresa Nichta

8/28/18
By Merlin Tuttle

 

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has set world records when it comes to helping bats, and that special help is paying big dividends for Texans and for countless visitors. Thanks to the enthusiastic early leadership of Supervising Bridge Engineer, Mark Bloschock and the continuing efforts of Stirling Robertson, now in charge of Strategic Projects, and John Young, an Environmental Specialist, TxDOT is taking great pride in its accomplishments.

On August 21, Stirling and John organized a special bat evening for 30 of TxDOT’s most important media and public information officers. They each received a copy of Department’s new guide to bat watching at state bridges, attended my 20-minute presentation at TxDOT headquarters, then joined me for a special Congress Avenue Bridge bat watching evening. We were delighted when we learned that Mark, who is now retired, would be able to join us.

Merlin speaking to TxDOT media and public relations staff.
Merlin entertaining TxDOT staff with bat facts while waiting for Congress Ave Bridge bats to emerge.

The bats performed beautifully, and Stirling reported, “There has been overwhelming positive response to your talk and the whole event. Good stuff!” A big thank you to Stirling for making this event possible! We look forward to future collaboration and many more bats in Texas bridges.

 

 

Emerging bats providing America’s most famous urban wildlife spectacle.

 

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Nature Nights: BATS! at the Wildflower Center

Paula Tuttle

Nature Nights at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is a free family-fun event held each summer. Merlin Tuttle and Lucas Miller were the main entertainment for Nature Nights: BATS! on June 21st. Merlin’s bat photographs captivated the children and their parents alike. Afterwards, Lucas Miller, “The Singing Zoologist,” performed for the crowd with his “silly songs about serious science.”

Live bats, courtesy of Dianne Odegard and Lee McKenzie from Austin Bat Refuge, were a big hit.

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