Bats Under Congress Street Bridge, Austin A Photo Story of our Boat-Bat Tour

All Rights Reserved 2014 Felipe Adan Lerma

Sunset Bat Watch in Austin Texas * 14 Original Austin Images Plus Light Commentary & Links Complimenting a variety of Austin based short stories. Including :

Dirty Sixth Street, Austin A light crime mystery set in Austin Texas. http://www.scribd.com/doc/213881649/Dirty-Sixth-Street-Austin

My Scribd Author Page : http://www.scribd.com/adan1950_228525061

* Intro Over the years, off and on, that my wife Sheila and I have lived in Austin, weve made the dontforget-your-hat bat trip to or along or under the Congress Street Bridge. Weve taken our oldest granddaughter when she was a tween. Weve taken our parents. Weve ridden the tour boats, stood along the sidewalk guard rail on the bridge above where the bats make their home. And weve stood along the banks during bat festivals featuring t-shirts, stickers, and of course hats to keep the bat poop off our heads. ;-)

This is a mini-photo tour of our most recent trip, where Sheila and I joined our youngest girl, her one year old, and her husband and his parents for a sunset bat boat tour. Its amazing, each time weve done this, how enjoyable it is. Especially being in the midst of such a large and increasingly congested city such as Austin. Nature survives. No, nature lives! That should be a t-shirt. :-) *

Almost as interesting as the bats themselves, is the line of folk silhouetted above. One of my other free articles here on Scribd, American Robins Arriving in Vermont: The First Swoop of Spring, A Photo Memoir - has images of birds lined up on power lines that, in their similarity of side by side stances, in Vermont and in Austin, remind me of the folk on the bridge! The similarity is amazing ;-)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/213881665/American-Robins-Arriving-in-Vermont-The-FirstSwoop-of-Spring-A-Photo-Memoir Individuality within a like community. Among people and birds. Our in nature is heartening. :-)

Tour boats and paddle boats. There are several from-the-water viewing methods of seeing the Mexican free-tail bats as they exit their nests to consume 10-20,000 pounds of insects each night. The Austin American-Statesman, the citys long time newspaper, has a page with various links of viewing options : http://www.statesman.com/news/news/ways-to-view-the-bats/nRp5T/

At a magic time, near sunset, the bats emerge. A close up below shows the stream of bats beginning to emerge.

They follow the outline of the bridge below the surface, then rise into the air in a loose column wave. The boat tour guide told us that, being late March, the bat colony was mostly populated with pregnant female bats. And that they numbered about 750,000 - the colony doubling when the babies were born. Then joined, early June or July, by the males. No one commented as to where the guys might be, or what they might be up to. Being that most of the people on the boat besides ourselves, were evidently sorority girls or (separately) a band of bridesmaids, I kept quiet. ;-) http://austin.about.com/od/austinattractions/p/Bats_in_Austin.htm

The bats generally initially follow the southern bank of the river.

The cropped view above gives a clearer view of their path to the east.

Our tour guide mentioned that the bats tend to stay close together like this til much further out, then forage on their own for their food. Wikipedia has more info at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_free-tailed_bat

Yes, theres much to be grateful for in Austin. Most of it being preservations of the natural beauty of the area. Barton Springs, the Hill Country, the Colorado River, centuries old oak trees. And the Mexican free-tail bat, nesting under the one of Austins best known bridges. h t t p s : / / w w w. g o o g l e . c o m / s e a r c h ? q = b r i d g e s + i n + a u s t i n + t e x a s & c l i e n t = f i r e f o x a & h s = y o H & r l s = o r g . m o z i l l a : e n US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=rdNBU5GzC7K_sQTr9IG YBA&ved=0CDsQsAQ&biw=1119&bih=651

The re-naming of the Congress Street Bridge to the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge is an attempt to honor one of the many people responsible for the feeling of a quality of life in Austin, and throughout Texas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_W._Richards_Congress_Avenue_Bridge Its like not being able to drive down a Texas state highway, like Hwy 71, and not think of Lady Bird Johnson, especially when seeing blankets of bluebonnets and other wild flowers. I have more about Lady Bird, and what her efforts helped create into one of the citys masterpieces, the Hike & Bike Trail, in one of my other free Scribd articles, Love's Travels Extra Austin Images ( go SXSW!) http://www.scribd.com/doc/210909103/Love-s-Travels-Extra-Austin-Images-go-SXSW

The time before, almost a decade ago, that my wife and I had enjoyed a sunset bat celebration, paddle boats werent even things one thought of.

Now, as can be seen above, and below in the close-up, theyre readily available. And evidently a lot of fun! Another Google search has a variety of links of follow-up info : https://www.google.com/search?q=paddle+boats+lady+bird +lake&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Even at 63 1/2, this cropped close-up looks pretty tempting to me. ;-) Its hard to imagine a more benign daily reason for people to gather and enjoy the area they live in, than viewing one of natures enduring spectacles, the evening feeding ritual of the Mexican free-tailed bat. Quite a gift from a such tiny winged creature....

Though the Austin skyline has changed, especially the last twenty years, towers rising and transforming night life and life in general in the city, bat viewing is really more a re-connecting to the natural wonders of the area. For a brief time, among other friendly folk also watching the bats and nature ignore our presence, we also get to re-join nature. We are able to ignore the traffic and heat and allergies and the noise. And, thankfully, thanks to the bats, most of the bugs. ;-) http://www.austinallergies.com/Lake_Austin_Asthma_&_Allergy/Blog/Entries/ 2010/2/20_Austin_Allergies.html

Austin seems to have a history of trying to live with and accommodate the natural order it exists within. So its amazing that this marriage of a cultural and natural gem, the bats and the bridge, almost was exterminated from existence. A nice history of the effort and success of saving the bat colony, courtesy of Bat Conservation International (BCI), is at : http://www.batcon.org/index.php/get-involved/visit-a-bat-location/congress-avenue-bridge/ subcategory.html?layout=subcategory If more of this can survive in Austin, then Austin, as a place worth being in, should flourish. Thanks so much, enjoy ;-) Sincerely,

Adan

www.felipeadanlerma.com ***

Other free articles by Felipe Adan Lerma on Scribd :

Love's Travels - Extra Austin Images ( go SXSW!) http://www.scribd.com/doc/210909103/Love-s-Travels-Extra-Austin-Images-go-SXSW American Robins Arriving in Vermont: The First Swoop of Spring, A Photo Memoir http://www.scribd.com/doc/213881665/American-Robins-Arriving-in-Vermont-The-FirstSwoop-of-Spring-A-Photo-Memoir Going to SXSW in Our 60s http://www.scribd.com/doc/212902891/Going-to-SXSW-in-Our-60s * Texas based short stories Ive written can be found on my Scribd Author Page at : http://www.scribd.com/adan1950_228525061 Story titles include : The Concert (Austin), Love Before the Fourth of July (Galveston), and Dirty Sixth Street, Austin (Austin). * Please note: There are no affiliate links in this article, on my site, or in my books.