SAN ANTONIO – One by one, they emerge, and as the sun sets, they’re on a mission. The Bracken Cave Preserve north of San Antonio is home to an estimated 20 million Mexican Free-tailed bats that are ...

If you live in the Austin area, you're no stranger to Mexican free-tailed bats and their majestic flight from underneath the Congress Avenue bridge. So on April 17, National Bat Appreciation Day, we ...

Ariana is the assistant news editor of Chron. Her stories focus on space, wildlife, and any weird happenings in Texas. She previously covered community news and breaking news at the Austin ...

The nightly “batnado” flying out of Bracken Cave Preserve is now viewable from across the globe — as long as you have access to the internet. Previously, those wanting to watch the nightly exodus of ...

BEXAR COUNTY, Texas — Very few have experienced it. Most don't know it exists. About two miles down a dirt road, west of Natural Bridge Caverns, is the largest bat colony in the world: Bracken Bat ...

A bat pup rescued in Jupiter Farms isn't the endangered bonneted bat first reported. Busch Wildlife Sanctuary issues species ...

You’ve heard of jazz hands? Well, these bats have glow toes. When ultraviolet light shines onto the Mexican free-tailed bat’s extraordinarily hairy toes, they light up like a Christmas tree. That’s ...

A captive Mexican free-tailed bat under the care of NorCal Bats at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area Headquarters in Yolo County, California on September 18, 2025. Mexican free-tailed bats had roosted in ...

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AUSTIN, Texas — Every March, thousands of Austin residents and tourists look up at the underside of the city's Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue, as they wait for over a million Mexican free-tailed bats ...