An Evening With Bats, Scorpions, and Cholla Cactus

How Bridges are Helping Bats Thrive Alongside Ten Million Angelinos

Did you know LA County has 24 species of bats living here? And 16 of them live with us in our urban centers?!?!I recently attended @natureinla community bat roost count, a community science effort that has happened several times a year since 2020, and it was so inspirational!

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Learning about our urban bats was one of the earliest influences of this project when I attended a Bats and Brews event in Frogtown organized by @folarorg and @nhmla in 2021! I learned about new information that was coming out about how bats were using our bridges to adapt to urban life and what species were here.Some species, like the Mastiff Bat (Americas largest bat with a wingspan of 2 feet!), were re-found to still be here despite being previously thought eradicated from LA due to development. It was the observations made through community science programs like Backyard Bats, that helped make the presence of these amazing large bats known again!

These roost counts continue this important work and are a community science project of Miguel ORDEÑANA and the Community Science arm of the @nhmla and are a great way to get to know our amazing flying neighbors!Bats keep things in balance by eating thousands of bugs each night! This is especially important to keep mosquito populations in check, a newer problem for LA with invasive species booming in recent years.

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Bats have gotten a bad rap in culture but they really are one of the coolest animals!How special to spend an evening in threatened Alluvial Scrub just listening to the Killdeer (bird calls at end of video) in the wash and seeing all the species of bats pop up on the audio equipment ❤️ Another reminder that despite ten million people in LA County we truly live in a wild place still.Spots on the roost counts fill up fast so if you are interested make sure to follow @natureinla so you can learn more and see the call for sign ups the next time they have them, as well as all the other awesome events and information they share throughout the year.

Would you go on a bat roost count? Have you seen a bat in LA? What do you think of bats?