We do love getting to visit new places to see nature and wildlife, but we’re always happy finding local nature and wildlife in Austin too.
The Congress Ave bats here are well known and well loved by this town. There’s an area near Old McNeil and the 35 that’s got a similarly sized colony that’s a bit quieter and worth visiting.
Every year the purple martins collect in Austin to form massive flocks, gathering together in prep for their migrations. The flocks can number >400k birds in a small clump of trees. They used to flock in the Highland Mall parking lot, but this year they were in La Frontera up north. They’re amazing and well worth visiting if you’re in the area when they’re flocking.
Pretty close to Austin, we wound up in Dallas off and on and found the UT SouthWest Medical Center Rookery there. It’s amazing. In the middle of town just a bit off the I35 there’s a medical center with a protected rookery. At different times of the year you can see black-crowned night herons, great egrets, anhinga, little blue herons, tricolored herons, great blue herons, cattle egrets, and sometimes other species nesting here. It’s loud with bird noise. Wonderful place to visit.
We will likely have more to say on other Austin things later on bats, armadillos, birding spots, museums, and the interesting birds and wildlife to be found here.
The Nature Bloggist 