Any locals know the location of this cave?? I suspect we live very very near it, being bracketed as our neighborhood is by Bat Cave Rd and Natural Bridge Caverns Rd...but it%26#39;s location seems to be a closely guarded secret on the net. It%26#39;s the home of the largest Mexican free-tail bat colony in the world--and with best guess estimates at 20-40 million bats, far bigger than the colony at Congress Ave Bridge. The odd evening we%26#39;ll see them, or if there is a major storm, but for the life of me I can%26#39;t find information on its location.
Bracken Cave??
Well I%26#39;m not a local, but I%26#39;m a bat fan and learned a little about Bracken Cave thanks to 5 points my son lost on a test in second grade. :-)
Bracken Cave is on acreage (a little less than 700 acres) purchased by Bat Conservation International and open for visits only for BCI members and only on special nights. Check out the batcon.org website for information and a couple of pictures. (Look for the Bracken Cave link on their home page). The website says that the cave is northWEST of S.A.; I had expected it to be northEAST (i.e. near Bracken?)
And I will never again call it the largest urban colony of Mexican freetails. Apparently it%26#39;s too far away from S.A. to be ';urban'; and hence the Congress Ave. bridge has the largest ';urban'; colony. Minus 5 points! LOL.
Bracken Cave??
Bracken Cave is indeed northeast of San Antonio. Theat reference to northwest is a typo. Bat Conservation International is very guarded in revealing its exact location because the site does not have full time security and the bats are very sensitive to noise from unauthorized visitors that can be picked up near the mouth of the sinkhole from which the bats emerge. Should the bats be disturbed often enough, they would likely abandon the cave. That would be disasterous, since this is a maternity cave and the bats consume tons of insects each night. Until BCI can ensure that visitors to the site can be controlled, they will continue to limit access and keep the location secret.
If you just want to get a better view from the road with gaining access to the property, these are some hints. Access to the cave is not off Bat Cave Road, but through a dirt road behind a locked gate on a road within a mile or so of Bat Cave Road. Since you live in the area, with a little patience over time you should be able to narrow down the general area by observing the stream of bats as they gain altitude. I suspect the reason you haven%26#39;t seen them too often is that they generally head southeast to forage for insects and from your description, you likely live to the north of the cave. Try staking out a location near 2252 and the railroad crossing around emergence time and you will probably get abetter idea of the cave location.
Thank you so much, both of you. I was pretty sure it was northeast of San Antonio...our fire dept is the Bracken Vol Fire Dept so I knew we were close. Bracken isn%26#39;t that big. We probably are only about 2-3 miles north of 2252. Knowing they bought up 600+ acres limits the location to a couple of spots I thought. Due north of us there is nothing until the Caverns area, completely undeveloped. There%26#39;s another area east of Natural bridge Caverns Rd and north of 2252 that is vast and completely undeveloped east of the small Garden Ridge city hall area.
I have no desire to get near the cave itself, only to see the stream from a distance. We didn%26#39;t realize what we were seeing in the evening was bats until just recently, when they were disturbed by a storm one morning a couple of weeks ago and bunches of them were flying around our front yard...and we had the door open it was so cool out. Quickly corrected that. A couple nestled onto crevices on some stone columns on our front porch until the storm passed. Seeing their flight pattern in the air at that time, then realizing once they landed on the columns that they were bats, made us realize what we had been seeing some evenings. Then this past weekend we had a tiny one on the side of the house, quite near a screened back porch, where we could safely observe him. I was surprised to see a tail, googled it, came up with the type of bat, then the discussions on Bracken Cave...which leads me to this, and where I am now. I am interested, as I said, but don%26#39;t want to go to the actual cave. Our little friend died later in the afternoon by the way. :%26lt;
Before I knew about Bracken Cave, but after the storm where I discovered what was in the area, I%26#39;d been talking with someone at the Wild Bird store in SA who%26#39;d been encouraging me to put up a bat house. Seems they don%26#39;t need it as we are neighbors anyway!
There is a railroad crossing on Natural Bridge Caverns rd just south of the NBC Rd/2252 intersection. Is that the crossing you mean? I rarely go further east on 2252 than that point and can%26#39;t think if there is also a crossing east of that.
Are you a member of BCI, sarider? From what I%26#39;ve read, there may be a visitor center in the future. Thanks so much for your helpful information. I wonder if my husband would be amenable to sitting at that gas station at 2252 and NBC Rd for a few evenings?? :%26gt;
The railroad crossing I was referring to is south of the 3009/2252 intersection going toward Rolling Oaks Mall, just a short distance from the Bracken Fire Department.
I%26#39;m not a member of BCI, but my nephew is. I%26#39;m also familiar with the approximate location because I cycled in the area pretty frequently until the City of Garden Ridge decided do do whatever they could to limit cyclists from using their roads. If you know the area and the street names well and search enough on the internet, you%26#39;ll recognize the link between the former owner of the property and another landmark very near the railroad crossing I refer to.
Sorry I can%26#39;t be more specific on the location, it%26#39;s failrly clear that you realize the sensitivity of the area. Unfortunately, there%26#39;s no assurance that everyone reading this post would be so understanding.
BTW, did you know that the emergence frequently registers on doppler radar? Check out:
www.intellicast.com/IcastPage/LoadPage.aspx鈥?/a>
If you time it right, It%26#39;s quite interesting to watch as you pick up an ever expanding column originating right from the area of the cave!
I love a challenge and that I have here. First, I%26#39;m directionally challenged it seems. My husband and I had a discussion this AM about which direction 2252 ran, even. I said east/west, but apparently am in the minority. :%26gt; I understand, I believe, where you mean, which crossing, and certainly understand the sensitivity of the information and why you can%26#39;t be more specific and appreciate that, believe me. People can and do, do the unthinkable...witness the Treaty Oak in Austin!
I still see lots of cyclers in the area weekends. There are some terrific wide paved shoulders along NBC Rd--unfortunately it%26#39;s not long enough to get much exercise...we%26#39;ve thought about doing it, but you run out of shoulder and I worry that it%26#39;s too risky without it. Schoenthal Rd off NBC RD would be terrific with a shoulder, but with the hills, dangerous, IMHO, without one. We were runners as flatlanders in FL, but are looking for a new form of exercise here. Sorry for the development...though we were part of the problem, I hate to see it continue at the pace it is, and am so glad BCI had the foresight to buy up the necessary property to protect the cave.
Again, thank you so much for the help you%26#39;ve provided. I%26#39;ll work on this and figure it out...as I said, I love a challenge.
Happy hunting, let us know if you are successful.
Yes, people do really unthinkable things. I recently visited the Cave With No Name and heard and saw the results of what real vandals can do.
In the case of the Bracken Cave, the danger is probably from the curious having no idea of the damage they could do rather than a knowledgeable and overt act such as happened with the Treaty Oak and the CWNN.
sarider...you still here?? The only location for Bracken Fire Dept that I can find is the one on 3009...took the drive down 2252 looking, but nada.. Anyway...I%26#39;ve been able to see long streams of them, always coming from the same direction, from the north northwest, in the evening, so am pretty confident of the general location. They seem to come in groups of varying sizes, but each group is coming from the same general area. Could you email me at beachmusic18 AT yahoo.com so I can run my hunch by you?
I truly have no desire to go to it, even less after seeing a video on MSN%26#39;s homepage showing a maternity Mexican long-tailed bat cave in ';southern Texas';. Great scott. Predators await their evening departure...incredibly footage showed a snake grabbing one from the air as it flew out the cave entrance. No no no. I don%26#39;t need to go there!! LOL I%26#39;m curious if I%26#39;m right though.
Go to Google Earth (if you have the application) or Google Maps and enter the following map coordinates:
29掳 41鈥?13.74鈥?N, 98掳 21鈥?09.38鈥?W
That%26#39;s the location of Bracken Cave.
I was surprised to see this pop up again.
Actually since writing, I%26#39;ve even been to the cave on a membership night and seen the ';fly out';. It is absolutely incredible and just goes on and on and on, a tornado-like column spiraling from the mouth of the cave--the opening is immense. The head of BCI was there the night we were, went right to the mouth during the fly out, waved his arms in a circular motion until he caught one, then brought it back for us to see. Incredible...like a teeny version of Mickey Mouse with his big ears. Soft as the softest kittie to touch. It was quite an experience.
That said, the location is a highly guarded secret for reason, so I%26#39;ve learned. Bat caves all over the country have been vandalized and this is a maternity column. BCI bought up 600 acres surrounding the cave.
It is 4 miles due north of our house so we benefit from the nightly fly overs for sure!
I had a video of our evening...poor quality, but I%26#39;ll see if I%26#39;ve still got it up online.
Can%26#39;t find the video, but here are some of the shots. 鈥oogle.com/CMcDaniel2378/BrackenCave#
It started as a trickle and grew to this vortex coming from the cave. It went on and on--we stayed for about 45 minutes and they were still streaming out.
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