Austin City Bats

In September, our cousins held a family reunion in Austin, Texas. Several activities were planned including a boat ride at sunset which cruised along the river which flows through the center of downtown Austin. The main attraction was to view the of hundreds of Mexican Free-Tailed Bats which live there. The bats emerged and flew out from under the The Congress Street Bridge along Lady Bird Lake (part of the Colorado River) in downtown in Austin at sunset. The bats put on quite a show. Folks came from all over to view the bats.

If you visit Austin in the summertime and early fall, don’t miss going downtown to view the bats at sunset. It is quite a tourist attraction. Renovations to the Congress Street Bridge in 1980 made it an ideal place for bats to nest. The bats begin to emerge from their habitat at sunset. First a few come out and then huge flocks of bats follow. They fly high in the skies and circle the downtown skyscrapers. At the peak season, there are about 1.5 million bats. This makes an impressive show.

Folks came in many types of boats to view the bats and also stood on the bridge.

I’m not sure I could travel on a surf board, but this fellow was confident.

We enjoyed the view of the bats from our pontoon boat in the river. There were many other boats, too.

It made for striking photo opportunities and made for an interesting way to view the tall skyscrapers of downtown Austin..

I liked the reflection of the tall buildings in the river.

As it became dark, the bats began to return to their nests under the bridge. We enjoyed our boat cruise!