Ryan GosWING secures fourth straight win at national Bat Beauty Contest

Bend, Ore. (KTVZ) --- Ryan GosWING, a pallid bat from Oregon, has won the Bureau of Land Management's annual Bat Beauty Contest.

The victory marks the fourth consecutive year that a contestant from Oregon has claimed the crown in the national competition.

The annual contest takes place during Bat Week in the lead-up to Halloween to highlight the role bats play in healthy ecosystems. In addition to pollinating plants and dispersing seeds, bats control insect populations that provide an estimated $3 billion in pest control services to American agriculture each year.

Pallid bats like Ryan hunt primarily by sound. The species uses large ears to listen for insects moving on the ground.

Sarah P. Bennett, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management, highlighted the regional support for the contest winner. “Thank you to everyone across Oregon and Washington who came out to support GosWING,” Bennett said. “With four wins a row, I think we can confidently call this a dynasty—or a 'cauldron' the case of bats.”

Through partnerships, the Bureau of Land Management provides bat roosting and foraging habitat while supporting other bat conservation efforts. Many bat species rely on public landscapes managed by the agency, including caves, abandoned mines, forests, grasslands and deserts.

The agency manages wildlife and wildlife habitat on public lands using a multiple-use and sustained-yield approach established under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. This framework helps maintain healthy wildlife populations while balancing conservation with recreation, resource use and other public land values.