by Shaila Palamand, PWL Member
July is a prime month for viewing Mexican free-tailed bats in Texas, as pups born earlier in the year are now old enough to fly and leave their roosts to search for food. In the Piney Woods region, Huntsville is one of the best places to witness their spectacular nightly foraging flight.
In the late 1990s, a large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats began using an abandoned building in Huntsville as a maternity roost. Over the years, the building, owned by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), started to deteriorate and show signs of structural instability. TDCJ ultimately announced plans to demolish the building, but by that time, the colony had grown to nearly 1 million bats, making it one of the largest urban bat colonies in the US and the largest bat maternity roost located in a building in North America. With the proposed demolition looming, TDCJ partnered with various stakeholders to form the Huntsville Bat Committee, those members included: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), Bat Conservation International (BCI), Texas A&M AgriLife Extension (AgriLife), Department of State Health Services (DSHS), and the local city and county officials. The goal of this partnership was to develop a plan to safely and responsibly remove the bats from the warehouse, as well as provide for outreach and education around the colony and bats in general.
At last, after years of discussion, debates and planning, progress has been made. The Stakeholder committee was awarded the Apex Conservation Grant from Apex Clean energy. The Apex Conservation Grant Program contributed $200,000 to the effort on behalf of its El Sauz and Young Wind projects. Building improvements since late 2024 include a new roof to ensure stability and waterproofing, as well as educational signage and fencing to prevent trespassing and share information about the Huntsville bat colony and guidelines for bat viewing. In addition, the Huntsville Bat Committee hosted several free events with the most recent occurring in May 2025. This event titled “Living Near Bats,” is planned to happen annually to semi-annually to provide the Huntsville community with education about bats and their importance to our ecosystem.
The Heartwood chapter of Texas Master Naturalists is leading the charge in terms of education and outreach. Their “Huntsville Bat Team” has actively promoted education and outreach surround the bats in Texas and the colony for the past three years, collecting data on the bats several times each week and conducting public outreach on Friday nights from late March to early November, as people visit the site to witness the bats’ emergence.
The warehouse is located near the intersection of 14th Street and Avenue I. During the summer months, the bats can be viewed nightly (usually around dusk) when they leave their roost to hunt for insects.
Learn more:
https://www.batcon.org/huntsvillebats/
https://www.batcon.org/press/living-near-bats-community-workshop-coming-to-walker-county/