Flowers for Bats campaign
Greetings!

Let's check back in on your reports of flowering of cacti and agave as part of the Flowers for Bats campaign! 

Your observations are helping the US Fish & Wildlife Service learn how nectar resources for the lesser long-nosed bat are changing over time. I have been checking the Gabe Zimmerman trailhead for agave this summer, and was delighted to find two Palmer's Century Plants with flower buds last week! I am hoping to see some open flowers when I go back this week.

Have you ever noticed your hummingbird feeder mysteriously drained in one night? Your feeder might have been visited by nectar feeding bats! Learn how you can report activity at your feeder through Arizona Game & Fish's Backyard Bats: Bat and Hummingbird Feeder Study. 

Photo: Agave palmeri with closed flowers at Cienega Creek on June 17th
What you are reporting on cacti and agave
You are reporting flowering of cacti and agave at 68 sites across Southern Arizona. There are 56 observers reporting on saguaro, 8 observers reporting on Agave americana, 2 observers reporting on Agave parryi, 17 observers reporting on Agave palmeri, 1 observer reporting on Agave deserti, and 3 observers reporting on organ pipe cactus.
The map below shows the locations that have reported open flowers in Agave palmeri (squares) and saguaros (triangles) showing the times that nectar is available for bats.
We can see that the saguaros have passed peak flowering in early May and have been pollinated and are transitioning to the fruits phenophase. There have been several reports of fewer flowers on saguaros than previous years, so we will look at what your data says about flower abundance at the end of the season.
Agave continue to have open flowers across the region. We have not seen any reports of flowers in Agave parryi or Agave deserti since our last message, so we will take a closer look at what Agave palmeri are doing. Most of you have reported flowers for this species and some of you are starting to see those flowers begin to open! There have not yet been any reports of fruits in this species, but there may be by the next message.
Keep tracking open flowers in agave until all flowers have dried up and you can report "no" for all flowering phenophases. Fruit can be difficult to observe in agave; you are welcome to skip answering those questions or report "?" if you are uncertain about fruits and ripe fruits.

You should also watch out for fall flowering in saguaro, as some plants will have a second period of flowering in the coming months.

A recommended schedule for monitoring is below. Remember, for saguaros and other columnar cacti, you should tag individual plants and monitor the same plants over time. For agave, you should keep watch for flower stalks and then once you see a stalk, register the plant in Nature's Notebook. If your agave occurs in a group of plants, you can register these as a "patch" when you add your plant into the system.


Don't hesitate to contact [email protected] with any questions!
Earn your Flowers for Bats badge! You can earn this badge by observing one of the Flowers for Bats agaves or columnar cacti once a week for six separate weeks in the same year. See it on your Observation Deck.

Thank you for your contributions to this important project!
Contact
Samantha Brewer