You may have driven over the Yolo Causeway between West Sacramento and Davis countless times, but there is more than just traffic on the bridge.<\/p>\n
The NorCal Bat Association says underneath the causeway lives a bat colony with almost a quarter million members. Each evening, they emerge from underneath the bridge and take to the sky in search of insects, including mosquitoes. <\/p>\n
September is considered prime time for watching the bats emerge around sunset, drawing visitors who gather beneath the causeway with chairs, cameras and plenty of questions.<\/p>\n
For visitor Ashley Manges, the experience was an unexpected surprise, as she watched hundreds of tiny silhouettes begin to fill the sky.<\/p>\n
“It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” said Corky Quirk, a certified NorCal Bats<\/a>\u00a0educator who leads educational programs about the colony.<\/p>\n “Those are bats”<\/p>\n Quirk said people who have driven across the causeway for years may have mistaken the bats for birds.<\/p>\n “But if you are seeing them at sunset, it’s bats,” Quirk said.<\/p>\n The colony beneath the causeway is one of the largest urban bat colonies in the region, and the bats play an important role in the ecosystem by consuming insects.<\/p>\n Quirk works with the Yolo Basin Foundation to educate visitors about bats through its bat education and tour programs.<\/p>\n The program includes a caravan tour where visitors learn about the animals before watching the colony emerge. Visitors can also see bats that are being rehabilitated by the Yolo Basin Foundation<\/a> and take part in a question-and-answer presentation.<\/p>\n Quirk said the bats’ physical characteristics help them move quickly through the air.<\/p>\n “They have a long, narrow wing, a sign of speed,” Quirk said. “And these guys can fly faster than a cheetah can run.”<\/p>\n Changing perceptions about bats<\/p>\n For Quirk, the tours are about more than watching thousands of bats take flight.<\/p>\n “Mostly I hope people learn bats are an important part of the environment and they are not scary animals, no reason to fear them,” Quirk said.<\/p>\n Visitors often turn the experience into an evening outing, bringing chairs and settling in beneath the causeway as they wait for the bats to emerge.<\/p>\n The surrounding landscape provides plenty to watch while they wait, but the bats remain the main attraction.<\/p>\n “Watching kids play in the dirt and get in touch with the world around them in nature is a great part,” Quirk said. “It is always good to see.”<\/p>\n Then, as the sun begins to disappear, the bats start emerging.<\/p>\n The Yolo Basin Foundation Bat Caravan tours run through September and have a $17 registration fee.<\/p>\n NorCal Bats offers education on bats to schools year-round.<\/p>\n Quirk says you should never handle bats and always call for help if you see one on the ground for safety.<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n