Wildlife
Bat Emergences: 2 Live Cameras — New Mexico, Texas
Two caves in the US. Brazilian free-tailed bats pour out every evening: hundreds of thousands at Carlsbad Cavern, nearly 20 million at Bracken Cave.
What you can see
Both cameras watch bats leaving a cave at dusk.
The Carlsbad Cavern entrance (New Mexico) sits directly above the cave's natural mouth. The frame takes in the opening, the switchback trail that leads down into it, and the spot the bats fly out of each evening. It is one of the best known caves on earth, home to hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats.
Bracken Cave (San Antonio, Texas) is the summer roost of nearly 20 million Brazilian free-tailed bats. In the evening they spiral out of the cave in a column. It is run by Bat Conservation International.
The same species, seen at a cave of hundreds of thousands and a cave of twenty million — the two are worth opening side by side.
Cameras you can watch now: 2
All 2 are live video. Tap one to open it in the camera list.
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Live video, Aug-Sept
Carlsbad Cavern entrance (bat flight)
New Mexico, Carlsbad Caverns National Park · Nature · Wildlife
Perched above the natural entrance, this camera shows the mouth of the cave, the winding trail down into it, and the spot where the bats pour out each night. Carlsbad Cavern is one of the most famous caves on Earth and home to several hundred thousand Brazilian free-tailed bats. They are present year-round, but numbers peak in August and September as migratory bats arrive and pups born in the cave take their first flights.
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Live video, evenings
Bracken Cave bat emergence
Texas, San Antonio · Wildlife
Nearly twenty million Mexican free-tailed bats spend the summer in Bracken Cave, and in the evening they pour out in spiralling swarms. The operator gives 19:00 to 21:00 local time as the window. Run by Bat Conservation International.
When to watch
The provider gives a season for both.
Carlsbad Cavern: August and September. Bats are there year round, but the provider notes the numbers peak in those two months, when migrating bats arrive and the pups born inside make their first flights.
Bracken Cave: 19:00 to 21:00 local time.
Carlsbad is 15 hours behind Japan and Bracken 14 hours (both during daylight saving). So Bracken's 19:00-21:00 window is 09:00 to 11:00 the next morning in Japan — open it over a Japanese breakfast and you are there for the emergence. Outside daylight saving both shift an hour later.
The flight happens as the sun goes down, so the picture is dark by nature. What you see is black specks spiralling against the sky.
If it isn't showing
Both also appear on the United States page. The wildlife cameras are under Wildlife and the landform ones under Nature.
For other things worth waiting for after dark, Owls and Subjects That Keep You Waiting.
How to pick a time to open them is in Which cameras are in daylight now.
Where to find Bat Emergences
Agencies publishing the cameras on this page
- explore.org (Deep links and embeds OK, no image reuse) — Official site
The footage belongs to each agency. This site is an unofficial guide, and each sample frame was copied once per camera under that agency's terms of use.