A colony of bats is being released from the Joslyn Art Museum Monday evening — an annual event that has become a family festival.
Families are invited to bring blankets and picnic baskets.
Informational tables and activities will be set up by 6:30 p.m. Live bats will be on display, too.
The release of the more than 200 bats will occur a little before 8 p.m., said Laura Stastny of Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, Inc. Take note of the time if you’ve been planning to attend. The bats are being released several minutes earlier than previously scheduled.
This is the third year for the release.
And these aren’t just any bats — they’re the ones that inadvertently tried to hibernate in homes or businesses and lived to beep about it.
Stasny said the bats have been collected over the course of the winter from a variety of places by both Nebraska Wildlife Rehab and the Nebraska Humane Society. She estimates that more than 75 percent came from Omaha buildings east of 60th Street .
That’s the reason the bats are being released from the Joslyn, she said, because it places them close to their normal haunts.
They are a species commonly called Big Brown Bat because they’re larger than most bats. Still, they’re only 4 or 5 inches long and weigh less than an ounce.
Once released, the nocturnal species will flock around the Joslyn for a while and then head out for a night of freedom and feeding.
Note to moths, wasps and other flying insects: This will not be a good night to hang out near the Joslyn.
Source: Omaha World Herald