image: Photos from the October firework show in Capitola, California. Researcher Greg Cotten views the bats through a thermal scope (right).
Credit: Amy Howk, Integral Consulting
PHILADELPHIA, May 12, 2026 — Firework shows are controversial in this day and age. While beautiful, fireworks are loud, bright, and smoky, and they can be dangerous to the surrounding environment, releasing contaminants into the air and frightening both pets and wildlife alike.
Luckily, cities across the country are taking initiative to explore the impact of fireworks on residents and wildlife. In October 2025, the City of Capitola, California, and Integral Consulting conducted a study to determine the effect of their annual firework show on the surrounding animal population in the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary.
Integral Consulting’s Kerri Seger and Greg Cotten used the opportunity to observe how the fireworks impacted the feeding patterns of brown bats. They will present their findings Tuesday, May 12, at 10:15 a.m. ET as part of the 190th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, running May 11-15.
Five days before the Capitola firework show, Cotten set up a microphone to record a normal night of bat activity, which could serve as a baseline. From data recorded the same night as the fireworks display, they identified bat behaviors based on the echolocation calls they heard: Some sounds corresponded to searching behaviors, others to food capture behavior.
On the night of the 31-minute firework show, Seger and Cotten recorded the bats for half an hour before the show, during the show, and half an hour afterward. They noticed that the bats were searching for and catching food steadily before the show, but during the fireworks, they were unsuccessful in catching any prey, despite searching.
“There is a measurable effect of the fireworks’ noise and/or lights on bats’ feeding, showing that bats can’t exactly eat dinner in peace while they are happening,” Seger said.
Then, after the show ended, the bats returned quickly to resume hunting but searching and catching were greatly reduced from their pre-show efforts. Cotten wondered if this result might be because of a “moth to a flame” effect.
“This phrase originated from Greg’s interpretation of me explaining what I heard in the data after my first listen,” Seger said.
The quick return to feeding could have been influenced by the bats’ natural prey — insects and moths — flocking to the bright lights of the fireworks, but it could also be totally unrelated to the availability of the food, instead caused by the bats feeling safer to return to a quiet area.
Seger said that these theories will require more testing beyond acoustics — for instance, directional microphones would help determine the numbers and directions of the bats and their prey, giving insight into their attraction to — or repulsion from — the explosions.
Seger believes that this work has the chance to influence firework policy in the city of Capitola.
“The city funded the study because they were interested in effects to wildlife from their fireworks show,” Seger said. “I suspect they will take the results seriously and have a concerted discussion about what they might or might not decide to permit in the future.”
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ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.
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