Phoenix's Bat Cave

After more than three decades of living in the city, I've recently discovered that Phoenix has its very own bat cave. But unlike the Batcave of comic book fame, our desert city's subterranean den is populated by real live bats rather than a duo of superheroes. In fact, it's a seasonal home to thousands of the flying mammals whose nightly departure is as spectacular as any summer fireworks display.

As the days recently lengthened and warmed, I started my morning jogs quite early, even in the breaking light of dawn. During the golf course portion of my run, I noticed several bats overhead, flitting and fluttering as they hunted insects. Intrigued by the critters, I soon learned that a large colony of bats roost just two miles away from my home.

These Mexican free-tailed bats started arriving in the area in the spring, migrating from as far away as South America. In the 1990's they decided that a tunnel in a Maricopa County flood control project was an ideal location for nesting and daytime-sleeping during their breeding season.

Every night, shortly before sunset, the bats begin leaving the tunnel to feed on area insects. The diminutive mammals swarmed out dozens at a time, the exodus spanning the forty-five minutes I witnessed the event well past sunset. Like tight, undulating bait balls of fish, clouds of hundreds of bats filled the sky over the nearby Arizona Canal.

It was difficult to fathom the amount of insects needed to satisfy the appetites of the tens of thousands of bats feeding nightly throughout the neighborhood and across the city. And the bat population will increase even more in July and August when the recently birthed young begin to fly. In addition I witnessed dozens of individuals of another species, the lesser nighthawk, soon joining the skies. This dusk and dawn-hunting bird likewise migrated into our buggy city for its own hot-weather breeding season.

If you want to visit Phoenix's bat cave, it's easy to find, located just off the northern path of the Arizona Canal, approximately a thousand feet west of 40th Street, north of Camelback Road. Signs are posted on the fencing surrounding the tunnel below. Open parking spaces are available at the western end of the business park north of Chelsea's Kitchen restaurant if you need a spot for your Batmobile.