Dateline: 2005.09.02
This weekend the Congress Avenue bridge will be closed for Batfest 2005 put on by Road Star Productions the same folks who run the Pecan Street Festival and Victorian Christmas.

Governor Rick Perry reminds us that this is not just another festival with live music and shrimp on a stick. Sound environmental stewardship is necessary to assure that the Lone Star State retains its unparalleled beauty. As is evident by the preponderance of bats under Congress Avenue Bridge, the Lone Star state is heralded the world over for its diversity of wildlife. One of the most amazing sites in Austin takes place each evening between March and November, when 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from below the bridge.

Apparently some of the proceeds of the $3.00 admission, although I'm not sure how much, will be donated to Bat Conservation International.

Dateline: 2002.09.13


Austin is batty about its bats. We are home to the largest urban bat colony in the United States which moved in under the Congress Avenue Bridge during its reconstruction in the early 1980s. Today, Friday the 13th of course, the US Postal Service helped us celebrate by selecting Austin as the site for the First Day of Issue for the commemorative stamp series, American Bats.

This evening two or three hundred people gathered on the south shore of Town Lake where crowds come every evening during the summer to sit on the grass and watch the bats emerge at sunset. Officials gave speeches, as people queued for special First Day of Issue envelopes and postmarks.

To avoid the crowds, we left before the bats flew.

The Bats of Austin
Bat Conservation International
The Bat Sculpture
Austin Ice Bats Hockey