September 27, 2023. Just west of Sacramento, there is a section of route 80 that is elevated; it’s a causeway for excess water to run underneath. Inside the expansion joints on the underside of the causeway live 250,000 bats! They fly out around sunset to eat bugs.
I didn’t see 250,000 bats. The girl whose voice you can hear in the video told me that I had just missed the big fly out and there were millions of bats. The adult with her did not corroborate that story, however. I’m not sure if I got there a bit too late or if many of them have already migrated for the winter. Next year I’ll come earlier in the summer.
I was pretty psyched about the ones I saw though! They are small and they fly so fast, I wasn’t able to get photos. So cool!
I also visited nearby Putah Creek, which was lovely, but the trail along the water was overgrown in both directions, so no hiking. I saw a huge white bird that might’ve been a Great Egret glide soundlessly over the water (too fast for me to photograph).
I had hoped to see more wildlife out in nature on this expedition. To make up for it, I took a picture of some ants. They count!