Batty White or Ryan GosWING? Going [Guano] Crazy for Halloween’s Biggest Beauty Contest

NEW MEXICO — Forget the ghosts, goblins and vampires. This Halloween, the Bureau of Land Management has assembled a cast of characters that could give Hollywood a run for its money — and every one of them has wings.

There’s Ryan GosWING, a pallid bat with leading-man appeal. Batty White, a hairy-legged vampire bat with a taste for bird blood. Guano Reeves, a Townsend’s big-eared bat with a reputation for focus and determination. And ChewBATca, a big brown bat whose resemblance to a certain Star Wars character helped carry him into the semifinals.

They’re among the contestants in the BLM’s 2026 Bat Beauty Contest, an annual celebration of Bat Week that invites the public to vote for their favorite flying mammals.

The competition began October 24 with eight entries representing a remarkable assortment of bat species. Each contestant arrived with a celebrity-inspired name, a photograph and a little biological background — proving that an appreciation for wildlife doesn’t always require a serious face.

But beneath the jokes and Hollywood references lies a serious conservation message: bats are essential to healthy ecosystems, and many species face threats to their survival.

A Star-Studded Competition

The opening round featured the Three MusketEARs, a trio of Townsend's big-eared bats, against Guano Reeves, another member of the same species. Reeves emerged victorious, advancing to the semifinals.

The second contest pitted Dolly BATton, a western small-footed bat, against Ryan GosWING, a pallid bat. GosWING claimed the victory, leaving Dolly to return to her dusk-to-dawn schedule of hunting moths, flies and beetles.

Dolly BATton (Western small-footed bat, BLM MT-DAKs photo); Three Townsend’s big-eared bats (BLM Nevada, Rebecca Urbanczyk); Chewbatca (Hannah Cowan, BLM Utah); Chappell Flown (Jose G. Martinez-Fonseca, Wildlife Photographer); Count Frostula (Cameron McQuivey, BLM Utah); Guano Reeves, Townsend’s big-eared bat (John Larson, BLM Utah);

Next came Batty White, a hairy-legged vampire bat, facing Chappell Flown, a Mexican greater funnel-eared bat. Batty White advanced, demonstrating that a diet of bird blood apparently does little to discourage a devoted fan base.

The final opening-round matchup featured Count Frostula, a silver-tipped hoary bat, against ChewBATca, a big brown bat. ChewBATca prevailed, completing the four-member semifinal field.

In the semifinals, Ryan GosWING defeated Guano Reeves, while Batty White prevailed over ChewBATca.

That set the stage for a Halloween showdown between the pallid bat heartthrob and the vampire bat Golden Girl.

Ryan GosWING, Pallid Bat, BLM Oregon & Washington (Photo By Emma Busk); Batty White, Hairy-legged vampire bat, courtesy of Jose G. Martinez-Fonseca, Wildlife Photographer

Voting in the final round continued through October 30, with the winner scheduled to be announced on Halloween.

Readers can visit the Bureau of Land Management's Facebook page on October 31 to discover whether Ryan GosWING or Batty White has been crowned the 2026 Bat Beauty Champion.

The Night Shift That Keeps Agriculture Working

The competition is entertaining, but the animals themselves perform some serious work.

According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, bats help control insect populations, pollinate plants and disperse seeds. Their nighttime activities support natural ecosystems and provide benefits to agricultural producers.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that bats save American agriculture approximately $3.7 billion annually through their consumption of crop pests.

USFWS photos by Gabe Wahl. (via Facebook)

New Mexico is home to approximately 29 bat species, according to New Mexico State Parks. Most feed on insects, including mosquitoes and agricultural pests, while others perform important pollination duties.

The lesser long-nosed bat, for example, feeds on nectar and helps pollinate agave and cactus flowers.

Some of the state's bats migrate south into Mexico during the winter, while others remain in New Mexico and hibernate.

Their contribution to agriculture and the natural environment has earned them recognition during International Bat Week, which brings together wildlife agencies, conservation organizations and researchers to raise awareness about these often-misunderstood animals.

What Happens After Dark at Carlsbad Caverns?

At Carlsbad Caverns National Park, the evening commute can be particularly demanding.

Deep inside the cavern, at an area known as Lake of the Clouds, cave myotis and fringed myotis bats sometimes establish maternity roosts and bachelor colonies.

At 1,037 feet below the surface, Lake of the Clouds is the lowest known point in Carlsbad Cavern. Temperatures there are warmer than the approximately 56 degrees Fahrenheit experienced by visitors in the Big Room.

For the bats, getting dinner means flying from their underground roosts through the cavern's corridors and out into the evening sky, where they hunt insects.

Park researchers monitor these populations using acoustic recording equipment that captures the bats' echolocation calls.

Different species produce calls with distinctive characteristics. Cave myotis typically produce calls around 40 kilohertz, while fringed myotis calls are generally around 20 kilohertz.

By analyzing these recordings, researchers can identify which species occupy the cavern and monitor changes in their populations over time.

How Do You Give a Bat a Checkup?

Studying bats presents some unusual challenges. They are mostly nocturnal, move quickly and can be difficult to observe in flight.

Photos Courtesy N.M. Department of Wildlife (via Facebook)

The New Mexico Department of Wildlife uses acoustic detectors to record echolocation calls and mist nets to safely capture bats for closer examination.

Mist nets are made of extremely fine mesh and positioned in locations where bats are likely to fly, such as near water sources or cave entrances.

Photo Credit: NPS/ Gleason. (Posted by Carlsbad Caverns National Park via Facebook)

When a bat becomes entangled, trained biologists carefully remove it from the net. Researchers can then identify its species, record measurements, assess its health and collect information before releasing it.

The department has conducted these surveys in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Forest Service.

Great Basin National Park uses similar techniques, sometimes examining bats for signs of illness or attaching identification bands and tracking devices.

Courtesy: Great Basin National Park (via Facebook)

The information helps wildlife managers understand population trends, habitat requirements and potential conservation concerns.

And despite one persistent Halloween myth, bats are not blind. The New Mexico Department of Wildlife notes that all bats have functioning eyes and use their vision alongside other senses, including echolocation, to navigate and locate food.

A Thousand-Mile Frequent Flyer

Some bats travel astonishing distances.

During Indiana's first Tribal Bat Blitz in July, researchers fitted an eastern red bat with a radio transmitter as part of a collaborative survey involving the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Over the following weeks, the bat traveled more than 1,000 miles during two separately tracked flights.

Its journey extended from Indiana into Kentucky and west through Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Tracking projects like this help researchers understand migration patterns and identify the habitats bats need across state boundaries.

That information is particularly important as white-nose syndrome, a disease affecting hibernating bats, continues to threaten populations across North America.

A Little Respect for the Creatures of the Night

For all their spooky associations, bats are far more interested in finding insects, nectar and suitable places to roost than in frightening Halloween revelers.

Their survival depends in part on protecting caves, abandoned mines and other important habitats from unnecessary disturbance.

And while they may never achieve the celebrity status of their Hollywood namesakes, the contestants in the BLM's Bat Beauty Contest have already accomplished something worthwhile: introducing the public to species they might otherwise never encounter.

Whether the Halloween crown goes to Ryan GosWING or Batty White, the real winners may be the bats themselves.

After all, protecting wildlife is considerably easier when people appreciate what makes it worth protecting.

To find out who won: Visit the Bureau of Land Management's Facebook page on Halloween for the announcement of the 2026 Bat Beauty Contest champion. Additional contest information is available on the BLM Bat Week website.