This colony didn’t come flying out of a cave in the countryside though. No, instead they emerged from under a bridge in downtown Austin ; just a few blocks from the state capitol. It’s estimated that nearly one million bats live under Congress Bridge during the warmer months. In the early evening, they can be seen flying out in small numbers like wasps from a nest. The numbers increase until they look like bees storming out of a hive that has been disturbed. Finally the colony explodes out in such large numbers that, from a distance, they look like a dark storm cloud moving into the city. They keep coming out until it’s too dark to see them anymore.
I had only seen such a scene before in the movies. That’s what it felt like at first; like I was experiencing a truly three-dimensional horror film. But something was extremely different. In the movies, people ran away from the bats to dive for cover. In Austin , people ran toward the bats to get a better look at them.
The people actually wanted the bats to come out. If an out-of-towner didn’t know any better, he would think that the large gathering of people at the riverside park near Congress Bridge were waiting for a Fourth of July fireworks show- even if it was actually the Eighth of June. But no, they’re just waiting for a bunch of bats to come flying out. People also stand shoulder to shoulder on the bridge’s sidewalk waiting to see them. I’ve even seen these people on the bridge do a wave as if they were at a football game.
Of course, it wasn’t always this way. Years ago, when Congress Bridge was being built, no one had any idea that it would become a bat habitat. When the bats first began to live there, people were making plans on ways to get rid of them. They were looked upon as a public menace. But that’s all changed now. In fact, there are now bridges being built in other states that are modeled after Congress Bridge in the hopes of turning all of these bridges into potential bat habitats. There are environmental and conservation reasons for this. But aside from that, it was simply a neat experience: walking around the riverside area of Austin in the early evening and then watching the bats when they came out.
This was the spookiest place in North America ? For a bunch of people who call themselves the Travel Channel, they must not get out very much. Heck, I know of ten places that are spookier than that in central Missouri alone. I didn’t think that the bats caused Austin or Congress Bridge to be spooky at all. The bats gave people a reason to go out there at night; and the nights were beautiful. I thought that place was more . . . romantic.
“Romantic”: now there’s a compliment that bats don’t often receive.
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To read more about bats from this author as well as similar subjects, check out the THE BACKROAD LEGENDS OF CALLAWAY COUNTY. To order, e-mail Book Express directly at bookexpress@sbcglobal.net. Or search at Alibris at http://www.alibris.com |