A hoary bat is shown in this photograph taken on Sep. 26, 2024 at the Oregon Caves National Monument during a survey conducted by biologists from the Medford district of the Bureau of Land Management. The bat shown in this photo was named "Hoary Potter and the Guano of Fire" and won the Bureau of Land Management's annual Bat Beauty Contest, which was held from Oct. 24-31, 2024.
Emma Busk / Bureau of Land Management
The weeklong Bureau of Land Management’s annual Bat Beauty Contest closes, appropriately enough, on Halloween this year. Voting has taken place on the BLM’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. The competition features photos of bats taken primarily by government biologists who survey and work with bats on public lands in 12 western states, including Oregon. There are 15 species of bats native to Oregon, including eight whose numbers are declining or at-risk, according to the state’s wildlife agency.
Bats from Oregon have now won the contest three years in a row. Top honors went this year to a bat named Hoary Potter and the Guano of Fire, which was photographed by Emma Busk, a wildlife technician in the Ashland field office in the Medford district of the Bureau of Land Management. She won the contest last year as well. Busk joins us to talk about Oregon bats and the vital roles they play in our ecosystems.
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