We drove over to the caverns this evening to watch the flight of the bats. Tonight the bats started flying at about 8:20. The bats circle in the bowl of the cave entrance for a while before they take off over the hills. Almost like popcorn in an air popper — swirling around until it’s ready to fly out. This means the best seats are ones that give you a view down into the bowl of the cave entrance.
It was a great show. I felt it was more impressive than Austin’s Congress Street Bridge bats have been recently, though the ranger says that colony is twice as large as Carlsbad’s. There is a scenic drive from the park entrance to the parking area at the visitors’ center. It is about a 6-mile winding drive. At the beginning of the program, the ranger warned us that the lightning detectors were picking up strikes 3-8 miles out, and if they got close she would call of the program. Well, all went well, and we were treated to a great light show on our drive back as lightning lit up the sky across the horizon.