Bats!

After leaving NECC, my husband and I headed out on our 3 week road trip back home. Our first stop was a beautiful spot on the Guadelupe River in Historic Gruene. We had a great Texas meal in beautiful old gristmill. We then headed for the great city of Austin. (Many call it the Seattle of the South.) We are staying right by the Congress Street Bridge. The cool thing about this is that the world's largest urban bat colony lives under this bridge. People gather at dusk each night to watch the Mexican Tailless bats leave their roost in swarms to go feast on insects. Erik and I got a great view of the bats from the bridge as they took off from the bridge. Very cool to see the swarms of bats against the sky in the distances as they made their way to their feeding grounds. If you ever get to Austin, make sure to check out the bats. Interesting Bat Facts

• The bats provide a valuable service to the Austin community by consuming between 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects nightly!
• Bats can live to be 30 years old.
• Mother bats give birth to a single pup each year. The pups birth weight is nearly 1/3 that of its mother.
• Bats are mammals and nurse the pups from mammary glands. Each female recognizes her pups voice and smell and will nurse only her pup.
• During migrations to Mexico and back, bats may reach an altitude of 10,000 feet and velocities of 60 miles per hour.