Bats in Wimberley

Bats. Think about it. What’s the first thing that enters your mind? Halloween? Vampires? Getting them stuck in your hair? Usually negative thoughts. These are the myths that movies and stories tell about them, because in the past the habits of the bats were not comprehended.

Up until the 1990’s, bats were despised by one and all. Rabies carriers and “they will suck your blood,” were the warning of mothers everywhere. Vampires in literature would turn into bats and bite your neck. Despised and relegated to living deep in caves or dark castles, poisons and other methods were used to kill them. Even the superhero Batman looked scary and only came out at night.

But in the decades since then, studies have shown how beneficial they are to the environment, eating bugs, such as mosquitoes and moths. The 100 million free-tailed bats living in in Central Texas caves all around us, consume approximately 1,000 tons of insects nightly, a large proportion of which are agricultural pests.

Now people build bat houses in order to draw bats to their habitat to live and eat those pesky bugs, welcoming them with special interiors where they can brood their young. They are the only mammals that can truly fly and they are the second largest order of mammals with 12,000 species.

Habitat loss, diseases like the fungal white-nose syndrome, human disturbance and development, and climate change are threatening bats. In Wimberley though, they have found a home underneath the Cypress Creek Bridge.

They fly out of their bat roosts around sunset every night in the summer and consume those nasty mosquitoes, moths and other nuisance pests every night. So what do we do here in Wimberley?

We celebrate those little critters; in fact, for the first time ever, we will dedicate a whole weekend to them, with music, food, special beverages, crafts and just plain bat fun. It all happens on the Square and around the Cypress Creek Bridge. Music will happen in the Quarter by the bridge.

Middleton’s has been brewing up a special brew in honor of the bat, “Midnight Flyer,” Bat (chicken) wings by Jody Merrit, and great food like Dr. Brisket’s quail on a stick, Overstreet Good Eats, Armachillo Joe Ice Cream and Angie’s Fried Pies.

The Wimberley Village Library will have two special programs; on Friday the 13th it will be “Bats at the Library Story Time” at 10:30 a.m. for those aged 3 to five. At 3:30 p.m. for those five to eight, it’s the “Gone Batty” Discovery Club. During the event the library will be there handing out bat books.

An assortment of bat information and craft booths will be there with special bat offerings. In fact, the Bloodmobile will be there taking blood on Saturday, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. So fly on over to the Wimberley Square.