Phoenix Bat Colony Appears On National Weather Service Radar

PHOENIX — The National Weather Service radar in Phoenix is typically used to pick up on weather in the area. But on Sept 14, the radar picked up on a huge colony of bats.

A green blossoming stretched across the radar over a huge swath of the Valley.

“That doesn’t look like a normal shower, the way everything is sort of fanning out. They don’t really have a uniform direction. That’s usually your clue initially that it’s probably animals flying around,” NWS meteorologist Sean Benedict said, according to Arizona's Family.

The radar likely shows the bats coming out of a cave, tunnel or bridge at sundown to find bugs to eat. Though it isn't where the activity showed up on the radar, the area around the canal at 40th Street and Camelback Road is known as "Bat Cave."

According to a tweet from the National Weather Service, bat activity is pretty usual during the summer in Phoenix. Fall is when they really start to move.

"The bats on radar last evening in Phoenix was not a rare occurrence," the weather service tweeted. "We actually detect them most evenings through the summer."

According to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the bats are likely Mexican free-tailed bats, one of the 28 species that reside in Arizona. The department also emphasized that the bats are not dangerous to people if they are left alone.

"Bats can fly all around you without making contact, thanks to their superior navigation abilities," the department wrote in a blog post about bat viewing in Phoenix. "Always remember, however, that no one should pick up a bat on the ground. Like any wild animal, bats will bite in self-defense. Bats pose little threat to people who do not handle them."

If you see any bats, email the Game and Fish department at bats@azgfd.gov to tell them where and when you spot them.