Last weekend we scheduled a tour of Lady Bird Lake with Lone Star Boat Tours so that we could experience the Mexican free-tailed bats take flight from under the South Congress bridge!

There is something powerful and calming about being on the water and I loved being driven around and given a tour of downtown this way! The kids were pretty bored until we saw the bats, but once we did they were pumped!

The bats are living under the bridge from late March through October and there are millions of them! We could hear them chirping from a few hundred feet away.

There was a colony of Snowy Egrets perching near the bridge too and the boys loved learning more about this beautiful bird!

The bats come out from under the bridge and form a huge flying cluster near the tree line for protection. Our boat driver pulled right under the bridge in hopes to let us all get peed on… which we did… my kids were hiding under the plastic chairs like it was a tornado drill. He kept telling us it was five years good luck to get peed on by the bats… well I will have a lifetime of luck then!

It was quite a sight to see! Next time I will definitely rent a Swan paddle boat or kayak to experience this at sunset.

If you haven’t ever done this then I highly recommend it! It was a unique way to experience downtown Austin and learn more about the creatures that live here.