Four hundred pre-registered visitors will be invited to the Wildlife Department’s Selman Bat Cave Wildlife Management Area this summer as part of the annual Selman Bat Watches. Individual watches occur Friday and Saturday nights from July 10 to August 1 and are limited to 50 visitors per night.
“We’ll be watching a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats, our state flying mammal, as it leaves a nearby cave to hunt for flying insects,” said Melynda Hickman, bat watch coordinator and biologist with the Wildlife Department. “The bats typically take an hour to emerge and often form a flying ribbon overhead.”
Admission to the Selman Bat Watch is $14 for adults and $8 for children. Children must be 8 or older to attend.
Hopeful bat watch participants must mail their completed registration form to Selman Bat Watch c/o Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, P.O. Box 53465, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73152 between May 26 and June 2, 2020. Only mailed registration forms postmarked on or before June 2 will be accepted. Successful registrants will receive email confirmation on June 12 and an information packet by mail. Families or groups should send one registration form.
The registration form and information about Selman Bat Watches, including what to expect if selected for a watch, can be found at wildlifedepartment.com.
The Wildlife Department purchased the Selman Bat Cave in 1995 to conserve one of the four known Mexican free-tailed bat maternity caves in Oklahoma and to increase public appreciation of bats.