Post by L Roebuck on Aug 1, 2006 9:40:07 GMT -5
Gone to the bats
Visitors view endangered gray bats and tour the cave at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park
By CRISTI PARKER
July 31, 2006
Adults and children in bright-blue spelunking helmets ventured into the darkness of Connor’s Cave on Saturday night as gray bats flew out for their nightly hunt.
Visitors came from Columbia and surrounding areas to learn about bats and tour the cave at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park. Kathryn DiFoxfire, a park naturalist, taught the visitors about how bats live in the wild and led the tour into the cave.
The star of Saturday’s show was the gray bat, an endangered species that lives seasonally in Missouri caves. The park is the home to over 1,300 of these and other bats, DiFoxfire said.
As a group, the bats consume about 61 pounds of insects every night. This was the second bat-viewing event at Rock Bridge this summer, and it is part of the Bats on Parade program organized by The Friends of Rock Bridge that includes activities for children such as Decorate a Bat. The program began four years ago and runs during the summers.
“The bat-viewing has been going on much longer than that,” DiFoxfire said, “The other programs were added to piggyback on the bat-viewing we were already doing.”
Anticipating some nervousness, DiFoxfire told the visitors they wouldn’t see anything they couldn’t handle.
“There won’t be any swarms of bats like you may have seen in pictures,” she said. “They’ll come out in groups of 12 or 13.”
She also addressed what she sees as the unfair fear of bats.
“We have a lot of phobias in America over bats,” DiFoxfire said. “Probably because here, they are small and zoom past you before you can see them.”
Her theory stands up to a test when she holds up a photo of the largest species of bat, the Australian ghost bat, whose tall ears get a laugh out of the tour group. After a discussion of bat anatomy, habitat and behavior, she issues helmets and flashlights for the hike to the cave entrance.
Outfitted with their helmets, the group hiked toward Devil’s Icebox, the sun-lit entrance to Connor’s Cave. A rocky detour from the half-mile boardwalk has been necessary since June 9, when a slab fell from the natural rock bridge formation the park is named for. The detour is temporary until the boardwalk is deemed safe for passage again.
“I’m not sure when it will be open,” DiFoxfire said. “But we can tell you its going to be weeks or even months before they figure out.”
Sunlight became scarce as the group neared the opening of the cave.
“This is our most popular program,” DiFoxfire said. “It’s one of the few chances people have to get into the park at night.”
At nightfall, voices had to be hushed and flashlights put out as the bats began to fly out of the cave to hunt. The visitors peered over a wooden railing above the entrance to the cave as the bats flew up toward them.
“Did you see some?” Paulette Hansen whispered to Thomas Rizzo, 11, who was tip-toeing to see over the railing.
“Uh huh,” said Rizzo, distracted by the cave and zooming bats.
After they came out of the cave, sisters Catherine and Elizabeth Bohnert were exhilarated by their bat experience.
“She had us turn out all our lights for a minute. It was kind of scary,” Catherine said. “They are all buzzing around you.”
The cold of the cave was a welcome relief from summer for the visitors.
“And back to July,” Linda Wischoven said with a sigh right after emerging from the cave, which was about 20 degrees cooler than the humid summer night.
“Yeah, the best time to come here is summer,” Gary Riess said.
Most who came to the tour on Saturday were nature-lovers. “I grew up doing this kind of thing, because my parents would always want to go hiking,” Daniel Bettis said. “You kind of have to grow up with an appreciation for it. It’s cool that these kids are out here.”
“It’s neat down there,” said Rick Hansen, who brought his friend’s children Jospeh and Thomas Rizzo to the park.
“And really dark,” Joseph, age 5, said from under his helmet, which was a few sizes too big. “And really cold.”
Another first-time spelunker was particularly impressed.
“It was my first time underground and I liked it,” said Simon Midkiff, age 6, while fussing with his own oversized helmet.
His parents, Crystal and Charlie Midkiff, had been to the park before, but had never seen the cave at night.
“It’s totally different,” Crystal said.
Simon, who was clearly excited by his first subterranean experience, said, “I liked the cold water. I want to do it again. That would be so cool.”
Full Article: columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=20832
Visitors view endangered gray bats and tour the cave at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park
By CRISTI PARKER
July 31, 2006
Adults and children in bright-blue spelunking helmets ventured into the darkness of Connor’s Cave on Saturday night as gray bats flew out for their nightly hunt.
Visitors came from Columbia and surrounding areas to learn about bats and tour the cave at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park. Kathryn DiFoxfire, a park naturalist, taught the visitors about how bats live in the wild and led the tour into the cave.
The star of Saturday’s show was the gray bat, an endangered species that lives seasonally in Missouri caves. The park is the home to over 1,300 of these and other bats, DiFoxfire said.
As a group, the bats consume about 61 pounds of insects every night. This was the second bat-viewing event at Rock Bridge this summer, and it is part of the Bats on Parade program organized by The Friends of Rock Bridge that includes activities for children such as Decorate a Bat. The program began four years ago and runs during the summers.
“The bat-viewing has been going on much longer than that,” DiFoxfire said, “The other programs were added to piggyback on the bat-viewing we were already doing.”
Anticipating some nervousness, DiFoxfire told the visitors they wouldn’t see anything they couldn’t handle.
“There won’t be any swarms of bats like you may have seen in pictures,” she said. “They’ll come out in groups of 12 or 13.”
She also addressed what she sees as the unfair fear of bats.
“We have a lot of phobias in America over bats,” DiFoxfire said. “Probably because here, they are small and zoom past you before you can see them.”
Her theory stands up to a test when she holds up a photo of the largest species of bat, the Australian ghost bat, whose tall ears get a laugh out of the tour group. After a discussion of bat anatomy, habitat and behavior, she issues helmets and flashlights for the hike to the cave entrance.
Outfitted with their helmets, the group hiked toward Devil’s Icebox, the sun-lit entrance to Connor’s Cave. A rocky detour from the half-mile boardwalk has been necessary since June 9, when a slab fell from the natural rock bridge formation the park is named for. The detour is temporary until the boardwalk is deemed safe for passage again.
“I’m not sure when it will be open,” DiFoxfire said. “But we can tell you its going to be weeks or even months before they figure out.”
Sunlight became scarce as the group neared the opening of the cave.
“This is our most popular program,” DiFoxfire said. “It’s one of the few chances people have to get into the park at night.”
At nightfall, voices had to be hushed and flashlights put out as the bats began to fly out of the cave to hunt. The visitors peered over a wooden railing above the entrance to the cave as the bats flew up toward them.
“Did you see some?” Paulette Hansen whispered to Thomas Rizzo, 11, who was tip-toeing to see over the railing.
“Uh huh,” said Rizzo, distracted by the cave and zooming bats.
After they came out of the cave, sisters Catherine and Elizabeth Bohnert were exhilarated by their bat experience.
“She had us turn out all our lights for a minute. It was kind of scary,” Catherine said. “They are all buzzing around you.”
The cold of the cave was a welcome relief from summer for the visitors.
“And back to July,” Linda Wischoven said with a sigh right after emerging from the cave, which was about 20 degrees cooler than the humid summer night.
“Yeah, the best time to come here is summer,” Gary Riess said.
Most who came to the tour on Saturday were nature-lovers. “I grew up doing this kind of thing, because my parents would always want to go hiking,” Daniel Bettis said. “You kind of have to grow up with an appreciation for it. It’s cool that these kids are out here.”
“It’s neat down there,” said Rick Hansen, who brought his friend’s children Jospeh and Thomas Rizzo to the park.
“And really dark,” Joseph, age 5, said from under his helmet, which was a few sizes too big. “And really cold.”
Another first-time spelunker was particularly impressed.
“It was my first time underground and I liked it,” said Simon Midkiff, age 6, while fussing with his own oversized helmet.
His parents, Crystal and Charlie Midkiff, had been to the park before, but had never seen the cave at night.
“It’s totally different,” Crystal said.
Simon, who was clearly excited by his first subterranean experience, said, “I liked the cold water. I want to do it again. That would be so cool.”
Full Article: columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=20832