For the past few years around Halloween, we've shared ghostly stories relating to Texas—see last year's post and our "Capitol Spirits" Pinterest board. This year, we thought we'd do something a little different and write about one of Texas' official state symbols that is commonly associated with Halloween: bats.

 

After all, Texas' official flying mammal is the Mexican free-tailed bat, per SCR 95, 74R. Did you know that Texas is home to the world's largest known bat colony, in Bracken Cave Preserve in Comal County? Bracken Cave is host to more than 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats, making it one of the largest concentrations of mammals on Earth. Texas also boasts the world's largest urban bat colony, with about 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats residing under the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, right down the street from the Texas Capitol.

 

These bats live in Texas from around March through late October, then migrate to warmer southern climes in Mexico. Both the bridge and Bracken Cave are maternity colonies, meaning that millions of baby bats are born in these locations each summer, too. 

 

Some people are concerned about bats, with practical worries about rabies and guano and/or fears of the supernatural connotations of the creature. However, Bat Conservation International (headquartered in Austin) works to educate the public that bats are safe as long as people don't try to handle them, guano is good fertilizer, and bats offer excellent natural pest control services! A nursing mother bat consumes up to her body weight in insects each night. It's been estimated that all together, the Bracken Cave bats eat 250 tons of insects, and that the Austin bats eat five to ten tons of insects.

 

However, Bracken Cave and Austin are not the only places bats live in Texas, and our state is home to 32 of the 47 species of bats found in the United States. For information about where to go to view a bat emergence (when they come out to hunt insects at dusk), visit the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department's Bat-Watching Sites of Texas guide.

 

In addition to bats, there are a couple of other Texas state symbols associated with Halloween. The pumpkin was declared the official state squash in 2013 (HCR 87, 83R), with Texas being the fourth leading state in commercial pumpkin production. And while the official rodeo drill team (HCR 136, 80R) is distinctly of this plane, the Ghostriders' eerie name evokes the story of a cattle drive gone awry that inspired ghost stories and the famous song, "Ghost Riders in the Sky."

 

Sources:

"Bat-Watching Sites of Texas," Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/bats/bat-watching-sites/, accessed 2017 September 29.

 

"Bracken Cave: Protecting a Jewel in Texas," Bat Conservation International, http://www.batcon.org/our-work/regions/usa-canada/protect-mega-populations/bracken-cave, accessed 2017 September 29.

 

"Protect Mega-Populations: Congress Avenue Bridge," Bat Conservation International,  http://www.batcon.org/our-work/regions/usa-canada/protect-mega-populations/cab-intro, accessed 2017 September 29.

 

Images:

Top right: Bats emerging from the Bracken Cave, photo by Flickr user U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters.

This entry was posted on October 24, 2017 at 9:16 AM and has received 2145 views. Print this entry.

This entry was posted on October 23, 2017 at 9:15 AM and has received 1155 views. Print this entry.

This entry was posted on October 19, 2017 at 3:15 PM and has received 735 views. Print this entry.

Tackling Texas legal research can be daunting…but understanding how it all fits together is a good start! The LRL's Texas law timeline starts from the very beginning with the 1824 Mexican Constitution and charts to the present day with the ongoing Statutory Revision Program. You can click and drag the timeline by year and select timeline items to see more information and access links to bills, revisor's reports, and more.

 

The page also highlights online sources for researching current Texas laws and finding historical legal sources. From the Legislative Archive System and Texas Legislature Online to digitized Texas Constitutions and historical Texas statutes (and many more offerings), the LRL and other state libraries and agencies work hard to make Texas law resources readily accessible to the public. These databases are a work in progress and are updated as historical materials are digitized…and of course, as new legislation is created!

 

The LRL also houses a variety of print materials related to legislation and the legislative process. You can read more about these resources here; please contact the Library at 512-463-1252 if you have any questions.

This entry was posted on October 17, 2017 at 8:17 AM and has received 2149 views. Print this entry.

This entry was posted on October 16, 2017 at 11:22 AM and has received 1063 views. Print this entry.

This entry was posted on October 12, 2017 at 3:15 PM and has received 687 views. Print this entry.

This entry was posted on October 11, 2017 at 12:05 PM and has received 1080 views. Print this entry.

Whether you're examining current state budget documents or seeking historical perspective, visit the LRL's budget page to explore a variety of resources on the subject. This page can be your one-stop shop to find the final General Appropriations Act, proposed budgets and agency requests, the biennial revenue estimate, and more for the current biennium.  An interactive timeline helps visitors track the current status of the biennium and is updated as budget bills and related documents are released.

 

You'll also find timelines for past biennium that are available as PDFs, as are scanned appropriations acts and major biennial appropriations bills from 1927-2015. The page includes links to reports from the Comptroller and the Legislative Budget Board, as well as helpful guides explaining the budget-writing process in Texas.

 

The Library also has state agency budgets, legislative appropriations requests, agency strategic plans, and other primary documents relating to the budget process available for use in print.

 

This entry was posted on October 11, 2017 at 11:20 AM and has received 1036 views. Print this entry.

This entry was posted on October 5, 2017 at 3:15 PM and has received 758 views. Print this entry.

This entry was posted on October 5, 2017 at 10:05 AM and has received 1434 views. Print this entry.