29 Things You Should Never Do In Austin

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Don’t Freak Out About The Bats But Mind The Guano

Source: https://www.tripsavvy.com/

Austin has the largest colony of bats in North America, with 700,000 to 1.5 million living under the Congress Avenue Bridge. The crevices on the underside of the bridge provide a cozy home for the bats that consume about 20,000 pounds of insects every night. Flapping their webbed wings and spiraling out from under the bridge and into the sky, the bats are a unique and fascinating tourist attraction. During the warmer months of spring and summer, countless bats emerge minutes before sunset and fly over Lady Bird Lake where you can wait for them to have a close-up view. You can also book a two-hour kayaking tour or simply rent a boat to get a better view of the bats from the water.

While you’re on the hillside or the water, there’s a small risk of being bombed by bat droppings from the sky. While the bats help with the bug control, they also bring rabies, bacterial infections, and histoplasmosis, a disease that can be acquired from bat guano.