Waiting For The Bats

I have been looking forward to this day for several years. These are people, and the setting moon, on the Congress Avenue Bridge, crossing the Colorado River in the heart of Austin. When the bridge was rebuilt in 1980, crevices were created between the cement beams - a perfect bat roost. Bats soon moved in by the thousands, and the current population is estimated to be over a million bats. And each night, swarms of bats depart for their night feedings on insects. The colony is estimated to eat from 10,000 to 20,000 pounds of insects a night! People gather by the hundreds, both on the bridge and below the bridge to watch the swarms depart. Austin now has one of the most unusual and fascinating tourist attractions anywhere. Unfortunately, tonight we never saw the swarm depart! Perhaps it was weather conditions, but we did see perhaps a hundred or so over a 10 minute period, but not the huge clouds of bats we expected. We may go back tomorrow night to watch again.