Who knew that bats could be so beautiful?!
Before arriving in Austin, we’d had several people recommend watching the bats emerge from Congress Avenue Bridge.
Watching the bats was therefore on our to-do list during our visit, but we got lucky one evening and found ourselves down by the Colorado River just as the sun was going down.
There was a long line of people on a bridge in the distance, so we asked someone if that was Congress Avenue Bridge – it was! Seeing as the bats fly out from under the bridge as the sun goes down, we decided to stick around to watch it.
Despite not being on the bridge, we ended up in what might be an even better location to watch the bats emerging from beneath the bridge. Close to a kayak rental store, there were two boat/kayak launches jutting out into the river.
The launches are east of the bridge which is the direction the bats fly. That meant we got a great view of not only the bridge but also the bats as they flew overhead.
After waiting about 10-15 minutes, we suddenly noticed a wavy black line in the evening sky. The bats were on their way.
There are 1.5 million bats that roost under Congress Avenue Bridge. It’s amazing to think so many bats can fit under there, but as you watch the endless stream of them flying out, you can certainly believe there’s that many.
A few minutes later they were still coming strong…
…and a few minutes after that one wavy line of bats became three.
It was strangely beautiful watching them fly overhead. Despite there being about 20 people standing out on the boat launches, everyone was watching silently and so you could hear their wings beating as they drifted by.
The entire experience lasted about 10-15 minutes and was definitely worth it. Some popular tourist activities can be a bit of a letdown, but this is something you should experience when visiting Austin.
Here’s a video I took as we watched the bats. It doesn’t do justice to how beautiful it was, so go see it with your own eyes if possible.
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It seems like most people watch the bats in Austin from Congress Avenue Bridge. You’d probably need to arrive well before sunset in order to get an unobstructed view of the bats.
We loved the spot where we watched it from though. Here’s a link to the GPS coordinates on Google Maps of the boat launch we stood on. If you click on that link, you’ll be able to get walking directions to take you there.
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