Congress Avenue Bridge – Austin, Texas
Want to learn about Mexican free-tailed bats? If you do then you will want to visit the bridge from March to October to see the largest urban colonies of them in the area with a bat population of 1.5 million. Why do we care about Bats? Most bats are valuable allies, well worth protecting. They are primary predators of vast numbers of insect pests. In the US the brown bats often eat mosquitoes and can catch up to 1,200 tiny insects in an hour! An average-sized colony of big brown bats can eat enough cucumber beetles to protect farmers from then of millions of the beetle’s rootworm larva each summer. Large colonies of Mexican free-tailed bats eat hundred of tons of moth pests weekly. Bats play a key role in keeping a wide variety of insect populations in balance.
BCI (Bat Conservation International) of Austin is devoted to conservation, education and research initiatives involving bats and ecosystems they serve. BCI is aware that bats rank among the world’s most misunderstood and endangered wildlife. They are quick and people don’t understand them or the benefits which is the goal of BCI to change this.
The Congress Avenue Bridge is filled with people every summer night to see the world’s largest urban bat colony emerge from under the Congress Ave. Bridge. This is one of the largest and most unique tourist attractions anywhere.
The Austin American-Statesman created the Statesman Bat Observations Center adjacent to the Congress Bridge, giving visitors a dedicated area to view the nightly emergence.
The bats migrate each spring form central Mexico to various roosting sites throughout the southwestern US. Most of the colony is female, and in early June each one gives birth to a single baby bat, called a pup.
Come and watch the emergence of the bats at sunset which creates a spectacle at sunset. . . something you won’t soon forget and may actually learn the benefit of bats!
Location: Barton Springs Rd. and Congress Ave.
Phone 512-327-9721
Email: Science Officer: Barbara French at french@batcon.org
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