There isn’t an exact count of bats shown in that image, but a close visual estimate puts it at around 150 to 200 bats in total.

≈ 200 bats total seems like a solid approximation.

#mabsdrawlloweenclub2025 · Day 28 · Topic: Swarm

At dusk, the cave held its breath. So did I.

The first sign wasn’t sight, but sound – a ripple, a whisper, like dry rain. Then the dark began to move. Bats, thousands upon thousands, spilling from the mouth of the earth in a twisting column. The air became alive, trembling with wings.

It felt like standing beneath a heartbeat made of shadows. They passed close enough to stir the hair on my arms, a cool flutter that smelled faintly of stone and dust. The horizon turned from gold to ink, and the swarm climbed higher, stretching into a ribbon of motion that reached beyond the last light of the sun.

I thought about how small a single bat is. Fragile, almost delicate. Yet together – a force. A breathing storm that eats mosquitoes and darkness alike. When they vanished into the night, silence returned in a softer key, as if the world itself needed a moment to steady.

The cave, empty again, exhaled. So did I.

#mabsdrawlloweenclub2025 #day28 #swarm #bats #nature #twilight #fieldnotes #nightmagic