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April 22, 2007
Deep In the Heart of Texas, Part Six
The Congress Avenue bridge, Austin
One of Austin's famous contemporary tourist attractions is the Mexican free-tailed bats that roost in the Congress Avenue Bridge. Spring and summer find 750,000 to 1,500,000 bats living in the heat expansion joints of the bridge, and each night, they all come out to feed on flying bugs. Starting as soon as the sun sets and continuing for the next few hours hours, they all come out and fly away in a column that stretches out for about ten miles before they break up and hunt individually. Altogether, they eat some 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects nightly.
Our camera could not take pictures in the low-light at a fast enough speed to catch the bats in motion without being blurry, but here is a shot that Shawn took while we were on one of the popular 'bat cruises' that cruise along around and under the bridge.
Bats departing for nightly feeding, Austin
While it is cool to see a huge number of animals in their natural (or perhaps acquired is a better word) habitat, a quick word of warning if you choose to take a bat cruise: wear a hat. Although the boat tries to stay out from directly beneath the bats' flight path, the bats are unpredictable in where they will go, and if you end up under the column, you're likely to be lightly showered in feces. It's not so much that anyone could even see it on you (the bats are, after all, very tiny), but it's enough to know that it's in your hair.
Posted by crispy at April 22, 2007 05:45 PM
Comments
Krusty the Clown (In Count Dracula Costume): "Tonight, I'm going to SUCK ... (cue card guy flips card over) ... your blood."
Posted by: Anonymous at April 25, 2007 06:06 PM
Hey, Chris, thanks for the pictures of the bats! I saw the bridge but no bats when Jay and Alex and I were there at the wrong time of day!!!
Posted by: Mimsie at June 18, 2007 08:32 AM