This is the best month to hang with the city’s famous nocturnal citizens. They even have their own music festival.
During daylight hours , the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge inAustinlooks ordinary enough . Just a few blocks from the Texas State Capitol , connecting downtown to south Austin , its broad , vapid roadway and two paseo span over 900 foot above Lady Bird Lake , shore up up by an esthetic serial publication of concrete arches and perpendicular ribs .
But come up sundown , those arch come awake — quite literally . Since 1980 , when construction unwittingly created bat - width crevices , the bridge has become home to what is nowthe most renowned urban at-bat colony in the world . When the sunshine diminishes and temperature start to coolheaded , the 500,000 to 1.5 million Brazilian free - go after bats hanging upside down in the concrete wing set about to egress for their nightly worm forage , swirling in the air in one of the cool urban wildlife spectacles human beings can see .
The at-bat here are almost all female , roosting in the bridgework to incubate the one puppy they produce each year . “ Most devoid - chase bats from Texas migrate south into Mexico in October or November and rest dynamic twelvemonth - round , returning to Central Texas in March or April , ” says Teresa Nichta ofMerlin Tuttle ’s Bat Conservation . As their natural habitats of caves and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree hollows disappear , they ’re forced to find alternative musical mode of living accommodations , like bridges . “ The monumental concrete beams answer as caloric heat cesspit , providing idealistic temperature ranges for rearing young . ”
Kushal Bose/Shutterstock
At dusk , the emergence begin as a dribble , sporadic squeak filling the atmosphere as the brown - eyed mammals fly downriver in hunt of solid food . Around the bridge circuit , there are signs admonish viewersnot to touch grounded batsand to observe out for guano fall out from the sky ( though that ’s in effect luck , no ? ) .
The close shave pick up as hundreds of thousands of bat emerge , take form an undulating ribbon visible for more than a mi . They climb higher and higher , sometimes catching tailwind thousands of feet above the land . These beast have the ability to journey far stretches , easily hop over to the coast before circling back in a night .
Underneath it all , gaze up , are the hundreds of nightly holidaymaker that bring in the 12 million dollars of receipts this spectacle earns each summer . They ’re set up on the bridge or the walkway below ( the east side is best ) . They ’re sprawled on the hillside on blanket and lawn chair . They ’re balanced on paddle table or grouped into kayak tours from outfitters likeLive Love Paddle , or coasting on a gravy holder withCapital Cruises . They ’re perched on observance pack of cards or peering out from nearby hotels likethe LINE Austinand theFour season , both of which have excellent sight . ( And while you ca n’t see the bats from there , theEmbassy Suites Austin Downtown South Congressoffers aBat Packageand evidently immix up their own Boozy Bat cocktail . )
Take heed of the warnings.|Robert Sullivan/AFP/Getty Images
Though the Congress Avenue Bridge is the most famous urban bat cave , several other Harry Bridges have also become roosts . The Congress Avenue Bridge ca n’t even take the large urban universe — that distinction belong to Texas ’s McNeil Overpass at Interstate 35 in Round Rock , which houses as much as 4 million of the fuzzy critters . Other bat - friendly bridges include the Foster Road Bridge in San Angelo and Camden Street Bridge at the San Antonio RiverWalk . Should you want to take yourself on a squash racquet bridge deck spell of the Lone Star State , the Texas DOT hascompiled a listof where to visit .
And thanks to the efforts of conservationists and the foresight of locomotive engineer , new bridge are now being constructed with squash racquet in head . The succeeder of Austin ’s Congress Avenue Bridge has also attracted attention from other city who want to parallel its succeeder , with an eye towards bat conservation — and , for sure , the tourism dollars that follow .
But it ’s Austin whose name will always be synonymous with the phenomena . “ Bat City ” sport teams havebat - shapedmascots , and if you ’re a new UT student , you may askBruce the Batfor advice . There ’s abat sculpture , aBat City Lager by acrid destruction Brewery , and a vodka - basedBatinicocktail created by the Four Seasons .
Hopefully these spectators got the memo about the guano.|Elizabeth W. Kearley/Moment Open/ Getty Images
The Batini is the official drinking ofAustin ’s annual Bat Fest , a medicine festival they ’ve been throwing since 2004 in honor of the flying beasts . It ’s held on Congress Avenue Bridge itself , and this year take place on Sunday , August 27 , with two stages of bit include Chamillionaire , Bun B , Slim Thug , and the Toadies . For those show up , the Austin Bat Refuge will have a tabular array to field all squash racquet - refer questions , and for those showing out , there ’s also a bat costume competition — which hopefully wo n’t befuddle the real cricket bat once they issue .
The Bat Man Cometh
Austin may now be known as “ Bat City , ” but at first its citizens were not so welcoming of the big - eyed mammals . When the Brazilian complimentary - tails first set off to colonise the bridge , attitudes quickly escalated to outright hysteria . Misinformation spread by health officials reported the bats were disease - ridden carriers of hydrophobia ( today , the CDC acknowledges it ’s a very humble per centum ) , and some citizen even fear the mystical creatures would lactate their rake . postulation were signed to eradicate the squash racket with blowtorches , and headline like “ Bats Sink Teeth Into City ” and “ Mass Fear in the Air as Bats Invade Austin ” shouted from newstands around the country . The swirling bridge deck bats were insure not as a beautiful occurrence of nature , but a scenery out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie . The chiropteran were taking over Austin and its citizen were designate . doom !
But the bats were guilty of nothing , save ask a warm place to cuddle with their pups . Says Nichta , “ No group of mammal has been more misunderstood , needlessly feared , or intensely persecuted than bats . ” The fact was , they needed a protector to speak up for them and boast their positivistic property . Enter Merlin Tuttle .
In the early 1980s , Tuttle was a biological ecologist with an acute love for fly mammal . ghost with at-bat , from puerility he find himself hanging alongside moonshiners studying them in the caves of Tennessee just to take in a coup d’oeil . In 1982 , he foundedBat Conservation International ( BCI)and evenwent onLettermanto preach the cricket bat gospel — with miscellaneous results . People were n’t too enthuse with the Bat Man ’s preservation rhetoric . Why would they want to protect these flying nuisances ? One could say they thought Tuttle was … a flake batty .
POV: You’re a bat looking down at Bat Fest.|Roadway Productions
They were even more baffled when , in 1986 , Tuttle reconcile from his job as conservator of mammals at theMilwaukee Public Museumand moved his BCI main office to Austin . Texas Monthlygave him the “ bum hint award,”an award ordinarily given to public figures do dubious decisions . But Tuttle had a vocation , and determine about educating the world about the specie — which make up one one-fifth of the mankind ’s mammals and are all-important to environmental health . “It does n’t take much to memorize the truth about bats , put risks in perspective , and partake with others , ” sum Nichta . “ Bats are gentle , advanced , and , like them or not , we take them . ”
Putting the species ’ benefits into human perspective greatly help Tuttle ’s mission . In Mexico , for exercise , foresightful - nosed bats are greatly responsible for pollinate the agave plants behind the state ’s beloved mezcal and tequila product . And according to Nichta , approximately 70 % of all tropical fruit eaten by mankind trust on bats as master pollinator or seminal fluid dispersers in the wild . That ranges from bananas and mangoes to peaches , cashews , and appointment .
And in Austin , as elsewhere , bats are a major source of pestilence control . “ Insect - eating bat preserve farmers close to $ 23 billion in yearly agricultural personnel casualty in the United States alone , ” says Nichta . Austin ’s urban bat colony deplete 15 tons of louse every night , and are the elementary control of huge numbers of Nox - flying worm .
Up, up, and away.|Christian Bennett/Shutterstock
If those numbers were n’t enough to convince the public , Tuttle had one other trick up his arm : an lovely flying fox chiropteran ambassador namedZuri , which he pick up on his travels to Kenya in 1984 . After lecture , Zuri would kill out for a meet and greet . Highly photogenic , he was also a television set and medium sensation .
Tuttle ’s approach was to come through admirer , not conflict — a musical phrase that’sstill his philosophytoday . In his bookThe clandestine lifetime of Bats , he says , “ It is simply amazing how quickly attitudes meliorate when people ultimately see bat as they are — sophisticated , beautiful , even cunning , quite apart from their crucial roles as primary predators of worm , pollinators of flowers , and dispersers of seeds . ”
Four years after Tuttle ’s arrival , the then - mayor of Austin , Lee Cooke , declare proudly that the city had become “ the squash racket capital of America . ”
Ready for its close-up.|GTW/Shutterstock
Welcome to Bat City
Tuttle retired from the BCI in 2009 , and in that same twelvemonth , foundedMerlin Tuttle ’s Bat Conservationwith the finish of educating the world . In 2021 , Austin declared August 26 — the environmentalist ’s eightieth natal day — Merlin Tuttle Day to commemorate his lifelong efforts and part to putting urban center at the forefront of bat conservation . This year , you could get together in theMerlin Tuttle Daycelebration virtually or , even better , in - person aboard a sundown sail with bat viewing and storytelling by Tuttle — AKA the Bat Man himself . It take place one day before Bat Fest , so stick around for a unfeignedly batty weekend .
Should you need to expand your at-bat viewing beyond bridges , Nichta also recommends theBracken Cave Preservenear San Antonio . The park is run by the BCI and houses the largest known at-bat colony in the world with about 20 million Mexican loose - tailed bats . Viewings happen in the summer month , and reservations are need .
out of doors of Texas , Nichta commend Michigan’sMillie Mine Bat Cavenear Iron Mountain . The vacate perpendicular mine now attractsup to a million batsfor hibernation . A grate covers the mine , but bats flow freely in and out , with a viewing platform gear up up outside for visitors .
Sit here and wait for bats to emerge, at Carlsbad Caverns National Park.|Vincent K. Ho/Shutterstock
A crack of bats — abatnado , if you will — can be seen nightly emerge from the tunnels of novel Mexico’sCarlsbad Caverns National Park , whileNickajack Cavenear Chattanooga , Tennessee offers a viewing platform to honor the threatened gray bats that choose it for roosting . And for a change of bat bridge scenery , Yolo Basin near Davis , Californiaboasts the Yolo Causeway , which stretches over marshy wetlands . There , bat talks and walksare conducted in the summertime by the Yolo Basin Foundation .
Austin also is n’t the only home of a dedicated squash racquet festival . On September 10 , Bear Creek Nature Center in Georgia , which is home to 16 different coinage of bats , throws its ownBat Fest , everlasting with scientists , conservationists , and lots of fuzzy brother . On October 22 , Louisville hosts theKentucky Bat Fest , with dance orchestra , vendor , and local “ Batfluencer ” Pepperoni ( ! ) , while on the same twenty-four hours in Gainesville , the Lubee Bat Conservancy lay on theFlorida Bat Festival . The twenty-four hour period includes live music , suffer and greets with bats , and talks with expert . Also , a beer garden .
Batman Would Feel Right at Home in This Cavernous National Park
Robert Pattinson, come on down!
Merlin Tuttle ’s Bat Conservationhas a few pointersfor a dependable squash racquet watching encounter . Avoid shining whitened lights on the animals , and refrain from loud stochasticity within 100 feet of the emergence — that admit applaud , yelling , and playing a musical instrument ( give those maracas at plate , folks ) . And if you insist on bringing a drone , keep it at least 20 foot aside from the animals , lest a hit renders both the dawdler and the bat out of service .
The bats emerging at the Yolo Causeway in California. Probably need to look out for falling guano here, too.|James Sakaguchi/Shutterstock
