Batcow

Photograph by Jay B. Sauceda

Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. Between 750,000 and 1.5 million bats, depending on who you ask, live beneath the Congress Avenue bridge spanning Town Lake. A few weeks ago, accompanied by two of my siblings and my cousin, I had the opportunity to watch this colony make their nightly emergence at dusk in search of food. It's quite a sight to see.

Austin is also the current home of the CowParade, an art exhibit of nearly 100 uniquely decorated cows spread throughout the city. One such cow is decorated as a bat and hangs beneath the Congress Avenue bridge. You can read more about this particular cow here. As you can see above, the Batcow has gained enough attention to warrant its own poster. If you look closely you can see the bats flying out from beneath the bridge.

Long live Batcow.

- Joel