Thursday, September 21, 2006

Lots of Bats...millions

Last night Hilary and I went downtown. We ended up seeing the craziest thing! Every summer night between March and October hundreds of people gather at the Congress Ave Bridge to see the largest urban bat colony emerge from under the bridge! Every night at dusk 1.5 million bats storm out from under the bridge. It has become a huge tourist attraction. They estimate that they eat from 10,000-20,000 pounds of insects! I am thankful for that!
We started off on top of the bridge looking down on them, but it was hard to see because it was dark and we were looking down on the dark water. So we went down under the bridge and stood next to the water.
It was so scary! I seriously thought that they were going to fly and hit me on the head and get stuck in my hair.
It was so freaky! There were so many of them, and the sound was really scary!

The above pictures are ones that I found online, the pictures that I took of the bats didn't really turn out. But this is a picture that I took as we were waiting for them, standing on the bridge. I LOVE this picture because it's a great picture of downtown Austin! Isn't it great!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

creepy!! It looks like people are camped out like they're going to see fireworks or something. Did you wear a baseball hat?!

Anonymous said...

you do realize what this makes me think of don't you?? A big man with a beard, a baseball cap and a paper grocery bag. Need I say more??

emily said...

No I did not have a baseball cap, but I wished that I had one. I kept jumping and crouching down though...it would have been quite the sight for you to see!!
Laura-it totally reminded me of dad and him banging around a broom in my room for a good 5 minutes only to come to the top of the stairs with nothing! Oh good memories, but scarred me for life!

davenportdiocese said...

wow...i woulda freaked. i hate bats. i remember them flyin' over my bed and havin' to get up and hit 'em with a tennis racket and scoop and throw 'em out side. hey, remember when you called and jenn and i were in walmart? and a bat was flying by our legs up and down the meat aisle? good times.