WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Enjoy the nightlife and meet live bats. Watch bats leave Highway 80 at the Yolo Causeway as they fly to eat crop pests and mosquitoes throughout the valley. Learn about these amazing mammals at one of the popular summer Bat Talk and Walk programs with Yolo Basin Foundation. 30 dates mid-June to mid-September from which to choose.

About 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats call the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area home. Each evening, in the summer, these beneficial animals each millions insects.

Following a 45-minute indoor presentation on bat natural history and meeting the live bats, the group will carpool out to the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area to watch the “fly-out” of the largest colony of Mexican free-tailed bats in California. The bats emerge in long ribbons as they head out to hunt for insects for the night. To get to the viewing site, the group will caravan through wetlands and rice fields to an area not open to the public.

Registration required www.yolobasin.org or (530) 757-3780.

Yolo Basin Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the appreciation and stewardship of wetlands and wildlife through education and innovative partnerships. The Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area is owned and managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.