Two days before International Bat Appreciation Day, a group of bat enthusiasts gathered in Central Park. One had a tattoo reminiscent of “Stellaluna.” Another has spent years tracking bat flights for a forthcoming book on the species, including trips to the planet’s largest bat colony in the caves of San Antonio. Others included recent ecology science graduates and a retiree who plans to spend her days watching birds and bats.
What they know, and many of their neighbors might not: Bats are the underdogs of New York, even though they play a key role in the city’s ecosystem. Like birds and bees, bats are pollinators, helping distribute pollen and spreading seeds through their poop, called guano.
The world’s only flying mammals are also a natural pest control service, eating up to 50% of their body weight a night in mosquitoes, moths and other insects. By consuming these pests, bats help reduce the spread of insect-borne diseases and make mosquito season less annoying. A 2025 Rutgers University study that examined guano found big brown bats — a species common in the Northeast — are feasting not just on native insect species but also on spotted lanternflies, an unloved invasive species.
“Big brown bats are like the New Yorkers of bats,” said Ryan Mahoney, the co-founder of the Gotham Bat Conservancy, the nonprofit leading the group in Central Park. “They’ll eat anything, they’ll sleep anywhere, they’ll hibernate anywhere.”
The day’s temperature had risen into the 80s, the kind of heat bats like for hanging out in trees, where they tend to look like dead leaves. The group’s goal for the day was to find where bats were likely roosting among some of the oldest, largest trees around. These kinds of observations are the focus of the conservancy, which works to restore bat habitats and organized the event.
New York’s bats are living in the shadow of white-nose syndrome, a disease that emerged about 20 years ago and quickly decimated colonies statewide. Survivors are still threatened by the loss of roosting trees and green corridors where they can safely fly and forage for insects. Mahoney and co-founder Roxanne Quilty see their mission as making the city safer for the creatures that inspired Batman.
The other Gotham origin story
Mahoney, a marine biologist, became interested in bats in 2020, when the collapse of bee populations was getting headlines in environmental news. He watched bees get a “PR makeover,” shifting from being portrayed as stinging pests to being rebranded as essential players in the food system.
Mahoney was involved in the bee conservation movement, but it struck him that local nonprofits and agencies were investing far less in bats, despite their slow recovery from the worst of the white-nose outbreak on the East Coast. Bees and bats share many of the same habitats and threats. On top of that, Mahoney says bats are more emblematic of his home than the rats or pigeons often made into a symbol of urban life. “There’s an entire comic book that’s based off of bats in New York City,” he said.
Mahoney said the neglect of bats “didn’t make sense to me,” especially in light of an evident drop-off in population. “It used to be that, if you went into a park at night, you were gonna see a lot of bats,” he said. Now, you might see only a few.
Other environmental activists warned him bats were tough to champion, and that concerns about rabies and limited funding would make outreach challenging. Nevertheless, Mahoney went ahead and started the nonprofit, drawing on his background in wildlife conservation, urban ecology and nonprofit work.
Battling bat apathy and misinformation
He partnered with Quilty, also his romantic partner, who brought experience in nonprofit operations and donor relations. Along with seeking to protect bats and their habitats in NYC, Gotham Bat Conservancy’s mission was to build an ecosystem of public education and conservation efforts.
A key focus is addressing misinformation about bats and rabies. Before widespread dog vaccination and leash laws, human rabies in the U.S. was largely linked to dogs, not bats. Today, cases are extremely rare, with some estimates at as few as one case a year.
The co-founders started hosting Bat Cafés — public talks such as one Epicenter attended earlier this year, about the harmful effects of light and noise pollution on bats. They began leading New Yorkers on bat walks night and day to teach how these often misunderstood creatures live.
Taking a cue from Quilty’s world — she’s in a band, and Battle of the Bands was a big part of both co-founders’ college experiences — they experimented with a “Bat-tle of the Bands” fundraiser that’s become an annual event. It was a hit. The low barrier to entry ($20 tickets) and live music scene attracted people outside the “typical conservation crowd,” Mahoney said. From then on, blending culture and conservation became a key engagement strategy.
So did focusing on low-key, inexpensive events after a high-priced gala produced only exhausted volunteers and a mere $200 in profit. Their bat walks are frequently sold out the day they’re announced, especially the ones at night. The walks are kept relatively small to prevent scaring the bats.
Building a hands-on community of bat-lovers
The vision: involve volunteers who reflect the city’s diversity and make their participation hands-on.
“It could drive you insane,” Mahoney said, describing past work with organizations that misused volunteers in favor of corporate-funded projects he regarded as “greenwashing” — environmental acts meant more for show than significance. “It killed my soul to watch this much effort go into something that I knew ultimately had next to no impact.”
By all accounts, Gotham is succeeding in doing the opposite. On the recent Central Park walk, participants — binoculars hanging from their necks, tools in hand — dispersed in smaller groups to identify possible bat roosts.
They measured the height of potential roosts using rangefinders and their diameter with measuring tape. They felt the bark for bats’ preferred texture: rough. In one group, the participant with the bat tattoo nearly brushed against a patch of poison ivy as they stretched around a red oak tree with measuring tape. The group also spotted what Mahoney called “tree crotches,” where bats might hang out with their friends.
For some, exploring how the bats lived among us in plain sight and have survived human-made threats brought home a connection Mahoney often makes.
“We learn to fear these animals and keep them at a distance,” said one participant, Uma Mohanty, who has a degree in political science and works on programming for English Language Learners. But, she said, “when the whole world and the environment is going through what it’s going through, I find a lot of hope in the resilience of bats.”
“It makes me feel like I have to be more resilient as a human being,” she said.
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Follow on Instagram at @gothambatconservancy
Learn more about upcoming events, including a Bat Café in Ridgewood about roots and roosts on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
I always wonder how photographers find the right moments to capture. Any tips for candid shots?