Beneath this Austin roadway resides the largest urban bat colony in North America.

by Contributor

In Short
Approximately 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats have made the underside of the Congress Avenue bridge their summer home. The bats began congregating after the bridge underwent structural changes in the '80s. Austinites reacted with fear until they learned that the bats consume between 10,000 and 30,000 pounds of insects a night. The bats arrive in mid-March and return to their winter home in Mexico by November.

05/01/06

Weird but cool

by abst14

My hotel was at the site of the "bats" so I went down and joined approximately 100 people (young, old, tourists, locals) We waited in a nice park and waited and waited and then out they came. A zillions little bats just kept coming out from under this bridge. I was very weird but cool. I'm glad I saw this because I could never have imagined what 1.5 million bats look like. I also never thought of bats as being "good" for society. We could use some mosquito eating bats in Miami. Wonder if they each roaches and toads.... I would plan it into your schedule. Even just being there doing nothing for 15 minutes before dusk is relaxing. If you have on comfortable clothes you can go for a nice walk or run on the lake (that looks like a river).

• Pros: unique, unexpected, safe
• Cons: quick, bad time of evening

12/19/02

What A Bat-y Night

by mylittleangel89

Be sure to bring a GOOD camera or you'll get pictures of hundreds of people staring at the bridge after sunset.... ;)

• Pros: Inexpensive, Good Parking, much entertainment

11/14/02

Love those bats!

by LV2TravelDWorld

That was the best thing I had seen in a while! It was so neat to see all the bats flying right at you! There were people there that knew quite a lot about the bats, and they would answer any questions that you had. It was a wonderful way to end the day and start the evening! Best of all... IT'S FREE!!! =)

07/30/02

EVERYTHINGS BATTY

by marshalllon

AWESOME TO WATCH AND IT IS FREE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. KIDS REALLY GET INTO IT.

• Pros: NATURE, FREE, EDUCATIONAL
• Cons: BATHROOMS, COMFORT, MESQUITOS

06/11/02

Bats and boats

by nathanstull_citysearch

Several things make this a cool bridge. When in season, the bat population flying out each night is a fun highlight. Also, you can just stand here and watch the boats on Town Lake or the sunset. The sidewalks are very wide, providing plenty of space for you.