Greetings fellow bat lovers! We hope everyone had a great Bat Week! Here at the Refuge, we're at the end of another busy orphan season and the time for releasing this year's pups and rehabilitated adult bats has come to a close for the year. We had a wildly successful baby season, with scores of red bat pups, handfuls of Seminole pups, and a baker's dozen evening bat pups released back to the wild. What an honor it was to have their trust! Thanks for helping us give them what they need to make it as adult bats!
We still have many rehabilitating bats in our care, and they will "over-winter" at the Refuge, practicing their flight skills and getting ready for Spring when conditions will again be favorable in the wild. Between caring for these bats and our permanent, non-releasable residents, as well as all the events and programs we continue to do around the state, we will stay super busy through the end of 2019!
Here's some more of what we've been up to:
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More releases than you can shake a mealworm at!
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Check out our Instagram page where you can see more release videos.
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North American Society for Bat Research Annual Conference
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Austin Bat Refuge sent co-founder Lee Mackenzie to NASBR's annual conference in mid-October, where he connected and conversed with bat researchers from all over North America. Read about his experiences at the conference in Kalamazoo, MI on the blog here!
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Volunteer Spotlight: Mary Mac Jones & Brian Kline
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Mary: I volunteer at Austin Bat Refuge because I believe in the cause of helping, protecting, and educating others about the bats that make our city so unique and wonderful. I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee where I very often admired bats from afar but never truly interacted with them. I was so excited to learn about Austin Bat Refuge and all the amazing work Lee and Diane do when I moved to Austin. Since my job involves using nets to catch birds trapped in grocery stores and other buildings, I couldn’t wait to get involved with ABR and see if I could use my skills to help trapped bats. Now the more time I spend with bats, the more I fall in love with them. Not only are they adorably ferocious, but they are also fierce ecological warriors that defend many of our crops. That is one reason why it is so important to support them and help our community engage with bat kind!
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Brian: I volunteer at ABR because I love bats so much!! It’s a true pleasure to help nurse those little critters back to health. It’s a joy to see their sleepy eyes open as they begin to realize it’s time to eat mealworms. I love helping people get past the negative stigma that clings to bats. They are fragile creatures, not scary creatures. Austin bats eat thousands of pounds of insects each night, have many innate abilities, and are adorable! When I’m not helping out at ABR, I stay busy remodeling houses and appreciating many aspects of life in this beautiful city.
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Bats: Cool, scary, or both?
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If you're reading this newsletter, we're guessing that you think bats are "cool". But how about scary? Head over to the blog to check out a fantastic guest post by Julianne Graper, where she walks us through her research about how humans in Austin continue to identify with the horror imagery traditionally associated with bats.
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Austin Bat Refuge merch = the perfect gift this holiday season!
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Don't forget about ABR when considering what to get for the bat lover in your life! We most recently introduced our YOUTH SIZES so that everyone in the family can get comfy in some Austin Bat Refuge swag.
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Giving Tuesday approaches!
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We all know that this time of year means pumpkin pie, football, and Black Friday... but it also means Giving Tuesday! Please consider making Austin Bat Refuge one of the many deserving charities that you support on this annual day of giving. We are so thankful for the opportunity to share our love of bats with the world, and with the generous support of our donors, we will continue to do so.
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