ASHLAND, Ore. — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s annual Bat Beauty Contest is returning for the third year and Oregon bats are here to defend their crown and try to take home the top prize.
Each October, the BLM hosts a beauty contest to find the most stunning bat photographed on BLM public lands across the county.
The event begins on October 24 and ends on October 31. It also coincides with International Bat Week, which raises awareness about bat conservation and the essential role bats play in the natural world.
This year, two Oregon bats are participating in the contest:
- Hoary Potter, a male hoary bat with a feisty personality, will compete in the first round of the contest on October 24.
- Honey Bunches of Myotis, a long-eared myotis bat, will compete in the second round of the contest on October 25.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, located primarily in 11 western states and Alaska.
You can help Oregon bring home the crown by voting on the BLM National Facebook page or the BLM National Instagram page.
Last year, William ShakespEAR, a female Townsend’s big-eared bat from Butte Falls, took home the crown on the afternoon of October 31. During the final round, she beat out Gizmo, an Allen's Big-Eared Bat. William was photographed by Emma Busk, a BLM wildlife technician.
The year before, the BLM crowned Barbara, a canyon bat from Lake County, as the 2022 Bat Beauty Contest Winner. Barbara was photographed by Kate Yates, a BLM wildlife biologist.
Both of this year’s bats were photographed by Busk.
“It’s important that we fact-check what we think we know about bats,” said Busk. “There are a lot of myths around bats, but they’re amazing wildlife and they contribute so much to our ecosystem.”
BLM says bats play an essential role in Oregon. All bats in the Pacific Northwest are insectivorous, meaning they rid our world of pests like mosquitos, beetles and moths. Just one bat can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes in an hour.
BLM says people can work to protect bats by avoiding exploring mines and caves where bats may be hibernating this winter and putting up bat houses to provide them with shelter.
“In your own backyard, you can have a bat house!” said Busk. “It’s a shelter that helps protect bats during the winter. You can also make your garden more bat-friendly by planting native flowers to attract insects and turning off any unnecessary lights. Light pollution is not great for bats."
