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Bat-Watching in Austin

Austin bat-watching scenes

Central Texas is home to a diverse population of bats. The bats pictured above are baby Easter Red bats.

Austin is known for its Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). More than 1 million Mexican free-tailed bats call Austin's Congress Avenue Bridge "home." While in residence each year, these bats provide a valuable service to Central Texas by consuming more than 4 million pounds of insects.

The hotter and dryer the weather is, the hungrier the bats are, and the earlier they must emerge to hunt. During the best flights, up to five columns of emerging bats can be seen for miles as much as 45 minutes before sunset.

Each spring, free-tailed bats migrate from central Mexico to roosting sites throughout the southwestern United States. By mid-March, hundreds of thousands of mother bats arrive in Austin.

In early June, each one gives birth to a single baby, called a pup.

Babies weigh one-third as much as their mothers at birth -- the equivalent of a human mother giving birth to a 40-pound baby! Nursing mothers consume their body weight in insects nightly, including vast numbers of yard and garden pests, from moths to mosquitoes. Depending on the season and colony size, these bats consume between 10,000 and 30,000 pounds of insects nightly!

Bats Flight Schedule

January - bats in Latin America

February - migration may begin

March - many bats in Austin
April - most have migrated
May - mothers prepare for birth

June - mothers give birth this month

July - mothers feed at night
August - pups can now fly
September - excellent bat watching

October - bats migrate south

November - bats continue migration

December - bats arive at winter roost

Bat-watching guide
Worst	Fair	Good	Best

Austin Bat Info

• Bat viewing location
• Bat facts
• Bat FAQ
• Bat photos
• Bat quiz

• Bat Conservation International

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