Panoramic view of storm moving in.
Tangle Fern
Dogweed ???
Crested Pricklypoppy
Crested Pricklypoppy
Crested Pricklypoppy
Crested Pricklypoppy
Prickly Pear
Rhonda looking for flowers/plants to photograph
Chainlink Cactus
Duckweed(red)
Apache Plume
Rhonda looking for flowers/plants to photograph
Ocotillo
Ocotillo
Ocotillo
Ocotillo
Ocotillo
Ocotillo
Desert Willow
Prairie Acacia
Prairie Acacia
Prairie Acacia
Prairie Acacia
Prickly Pear
Prickly Pear
Prickly Pear
Mariola ???
Mariola ???
Spanish Needles
Kalm's St. Johns Wort
Kalm's St. Johns Wort
Kalm's St. Johns Wort
Senna Roemeriana
Senna Roemeriana
Senna Roemeriana
Desert Willow
Desert Willow
Desert Willow
Desert Willow
Almost time for the bats
Close-up of the "bat cave"
Tuesday, June 1, 2021, 4:30pm. We arrive for our 2nd visit to this National Park. As usual, our first stop is the visitors center to get our NP cancellation stamp and to purchase tee shirts and other goodies. We decided to stop here last minute, since our hotel was just down the road. (You may notice that most of our travel happens this way)
We speak with the ranger and figure we will watch the bats fly, since we missed the last cavern tour due to the late arrival time.
While driving around we find many flowers blooming, and a lot of Cave Swallows flying about. I also spotted some Red Tailed Hawks flying along the sheer mountain sides, in and out of protruding rocks, looking for a late dinner no doubt.
At 7:15 the ranger does a presentation about the bats to the gathered group, explaining how sensitive they are to, well, everything. Lightning will send them back to their roost, loud watchers will as well. With storms on the horizon, the bats being scared back into the bat cave is a real possibility.
At about 7:45, the swooping Cave Swallows are replaced with a swirling stream of bats, on their way out to eat about 1 ton of bugs. The bat population here in Carlsbad is sizeable, about 400K-500K, but that is small compared to the 1.5M here in Austin. Still, as the sun moved more and more below the horizon, more and more bats joined their companions for dinner. We sat and watched until it was too dark to see them.
Telling the difference between the Cave Swallows and bats was visually easy, the bats are smaller, and there were many more of them. But that wasn't the only sensory clue they were emerging. The distinct smell of ammonia accompanies them from the depths of the cave, allowing even a blind person to know when they are exiting.
I have tried to identify the plants/flowers as best as I can (mouseover to see comments of photos), if you find errors please use the contact form to let me know. Also, please be let me know which page the plant/flower is listed in, or I may never find it. Thanks for looking.