Although there are no running rivers in Tucson anymore, we still have many bridges that span the dry riverbeds and the large washes that feed them. The expansion joints under these bridges provide an ideal habitat for several bat species that live here during the warmer months. Every evening, at sunset, thousands of bats emerge from under these bridges to eat their fill of insects throughout the night. Below are some images of one such emergence from the Broadway bridge over the Pantano wash.
1 Thousands of bats emerge from under the bridge near Broadway and Pantano on the east side of Tucson, AZ.
2 Hundreds of bats fly over a parking lot after emerging from under the bridge near Broadway and Pantano on the east side of Tucson, AZ.
3 Thousands of bats stream across the sky at sunset after emerging from under the bridge near Broadway and Pantano on the east side of Tucson, AZ.
4 Thousands of bats stream across the sky at sunset after emerging from under the bridge near Broadway and Pantano on the east side of Tucson, AZ.
5 In this video, thousands of bats can be seen streaming across the sky at sunset after emerging from under the bridge near Broadway and Pantano on the east side of Tucson, AZ. The bats are easier to see in this higher quality QuickTime version of the above video.
6 In this video, hundreds of bats swarm under the bridge near Broadway and Pantano on the east side of Tucson, AZ as they prepare to leave for a night of hunting insects. While you can see the bats if you know where to look (dark spots moving across the lighter areas of the video), this is more to show that bats do make vocalizations in the normal hearing range of a humans (in addition to the high pitched sonar they use to hunt). Download a higher quality QuickTime version of the above video.
7 A Mexican Free-tailed bat is held by Dr. Yar Petryszyn, Assistant Curator of Mammals at the University of Arizona. Dr. Petryszyn is a trained professional and has years of experience handling mammals in their natural environment. If you were to find a bat on the ground, it is likely to be rabid and would bite you if you tried to pick it up. Instead you should report it to Pima County Animal Control. This bat had bumped into something while leaving the bridge and was a bit dazed when Dr. Petryszyn picked it up while giving a lecture on bats under the bridge at sunset. Once the bat recovered and was placed on the branch of a tree, it quickly flew off to join the thousands of others of its species in their nighttime search for insects.
About how long after sunset do the bats leave the bridge?
They typically start leaving within about 15 minutes of sundown. It depends on the weather conditions – if it is too windy, they won’t leave in a big group, for example.
It’s really quite a site and fun to watch up close.
Hello! Didn’t get to see your bats – directions by Tucson birder were inadequate. Check out our web site. We have been doing research & surveys in Houston since Feb 2001 at the Waugh drive bridge over Buffalo Bayou, just 2 miles from downtown Houston.
We did see 10 species of hummers at Beatty’s bed & breakfast on Friday Aug 20.