The Wildlife Department will open its Selman Bat Cave Wildlife Management Area to nearly 600 pre-registered visitors this July as part of the annual Selman Bat Watches. Individual watches occur Friday and Saturday nights in July and are limited to 75 visitors per night.
“We’ll be watching a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats, our state flying mammal, as it leaves the 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 28 and June 7, 2019. Only mailed registration forms postmarked on or before June 7 will be accepted. Successful registrants will receive email confirmation by June 13 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 Wildlife Management Area in 1995 to conserve one of the four known Mexican free-tailed bat maternity caves in Oklahoma and to increase public appreciation of bats.