4. Insider’s Tip
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One of the odder Austin pastimes: urban bat-watching.
(Photo: Jeff Haynes - AFP - Getty Image) |
Austin is home to what’s said to be North America’s largest urban bat population and, during bat season (from March to November), over a million Mexican free-tailed bats take up residence under the Congress Avenue bridge, emerging in huge numbers around sunset to look for food. It’s a remarkable sight to watch thousands of these critters dart across the sky at twilight. The Austin American-Statesman newspaper has a free viewing area on the south side of the bridge, but one of the better bat-watching vantage points is oddly elegant, considering the activity: the Four Season Hotel Austin’s riverside Lobby Lounge, where the waiters actually announce bat flights as they happen.