Tenacious bat colony returns to Sacramento parking garage after eviction attempt
.jpg "A captive Mexican free-tailed bat under the care of NorCal Bats at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area Headquarters in Yolo County, California on September 18, 2025.")
A longstanding Mexican free-tailed bat colony has defied Sacramento eviction orders and partially reestablished itself in the walls of the Tower Bridge Garage.
In contrast with state workers — who were ordered to return to the office this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom — the bats reappeared downtown despite public officials’ best efforts to keep them remote.
Corky Quirk, who founded the local rescue organization NorCal Bats, previously said the colony was well over 20 years old when Sacramento started plugging up bat entrances in the fall of 2025. She said several thousand animals nested in the parking structure during the summer and early fall.
Mexican free-tailed bats in the area usually give birth around the end of June, Quirk said. Like many residents of the California capital, bat mothers have to navigate a housing shortage. In early June, Quirk said that the bats might return to the garage if they could not find alternative lodging suitable to raise a family.
Bats in a bind before births
Before giving the bats the boot last year, the city didn’t build an alternative roosting habitat, which would have been challenging given the substantial size of the colony. Because there was no formal relocation plan for them, it was unclear where they might live in the future. Quirk had wondered whether some would move into local businesses.
“Part of the reason those bats are in that parking structure is because of habitat loss broadly, across our state,” Katrina Smith, statewide coordinator for small mammal conservation at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told The Sacramento Bee last month. “Mexican free-tailed bat populations are doing well in California, but they still deal with human encroachment.”
Sacramento has long-term plans to include bat nesting habitat on the new I Street Bridge. However, the city has also estimated that the bridge will take more than three years to construct — possibly more, depending on the schedules of aviating and aquatic Old Sacramento locals, including bats, purple martins, green sturgeon and Western pond turtles.
A spokesperson for the Department of Public Works, Gabby Miller, said Wednesday that city staff had not yet received reports of the bats’ return to the garage, but that they would work with the contractor again “to ensure the bats are able to leave safely.” Any further work to get rid of the remaining bats would likely not happen until the fall, when nesting season is over.
If you see a bat on the ground, call for help
In the interim, commuters in the garage can hear the distinctive chirping and squeaking of bats as they head to and from their vehicles. For the most part, though, the nocturnal creatures stay out of humans’ sight.
But if a pup tumbles out of the walls, Quirk had a piece of advice: Do not pick up a baby bat.
Instead, call NorCal Bats: 530-902-1918.
Nearby, bats have become a point of local pride and drawn many visitors to the Yolo Bypass, where an enormous colony nests under the freeway in the summer — in a human-made structure, but far enough away from homes and businesses that direct interactions are minimal.
Informed that the bats had returned to the garage as she predicted, Quirk offered a few tips for humans who want to help this charismatic species and other fauna: Avoid using pesticides, plant native plants “to give small islands of habitat” for wildlife in urban areas, keep cats indoors — cuteness notwithstanding, they are bloodthirsty killers — and turn off unnecessary lights at night.
“When people choose a few changes,” she said, “we can make a difference for the other species with which we share this planet.”
