Urban Bats

... just a pretty picture I took off of Congress Ave. downtown before our "bat" viewing....

Austin has the country's (as well as the world's apparently) largest urban bat population living under the Congress Avenue bridge downtown .....and every summer night at sunset, the bats come out and I have to say, it is pretty spectacular to watch!! With a population of over 1.5 million in the colony, you can imagine the awesome scene this nightly activity creates --and the crowd it draws :) ... Last weekend on Friday night, Marsh, Collin, and I decided to go check it out for ourselves.

Marsh and Collin heading underneath the bridge....

...the crowd already well-formed above and below the bridge...

It began to drizzle on and off shortly after these pictures were taken and as the sun continued to set, it was difficult to get a good picture. Most of my pictures of the bats were way too dark and covered with drops of rain from the camera lens. So what I've done is to get a much better image off the web to help better depict what it was like experiencing this unique event.

...this endless stream of bats flying out from under the bridge, into the air, out over the lake, and across the city lasts for about an hour. It is really, really cool!! If you would care to learn more about this unique occurrence, check out this website for a beautiful sunset picture and more information: http://www.batcon.org/home/index.asp?idPage=122 ....If you come at the right time of the year, I promise I'll take you downtown when you come visit to see this for yourselves :)