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Carlsbad Caverns

New Mexico

On a side trip to Carlsbad, New Mexico, we went to the famous cavern/national park there and waited at the entrance for the nightly feeding migration of the bats that live there. When they finally appeared, it was quite a spectacle with over a hundred and twenty thousand bats all exiting the cave, swirling in a hypnotic vortex as they streamed out to feed for the night. Unfortunately, there was no photography of any kind allowed.

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We returned to Carlsbad Caverns the next day and hiked down to 750 feet below the surface. The formations inside were breathtaking to see and the temperature inside the cavern remains cool all year. I also had the opportunity to meet with one of the bat research scientists who uses thermal imaging cameras and special image recognition software to accurately count the bats as they exit the cave each night.