Statesman Bat Observation Center — Attraction in Austin

Manage your expectations, that's my advice. It's a very cool but somewhat varied spectacle.

I've been experiencing this attraction for 13 years now, about time I made a review. In that time, I've probably seen them every way they can be seen, and I've seen them as young adult just out of college with no money and nothing to do and as an adult with too little time and too much money.

The best thing about seeing the bats is that it's absolutely free, especially if you've got time to kill and can scope out a free parking spot early and snag a nice viewing point. As the young adult just out of college, I really enjoyed the experience. I had time to kill, and sitting on the lawn or standing on the bridge talking with friends and waiting for the bats to take flight was actually a lot of fun. I had nowhere to go, nowhere to be, I was new to town, and this ... was perfect.

Now, you're going to ask me, where is the best spot for viewing? Some people will tell you it's standing on the bridge. Others will tell you that it's over on the hill by the Austin American Statesman. Others will have some other secret spot. However, I'm of the opinion that the best spot is on the water.

Look any time the bats are flying and you'll find all kinds of watercraft hanging out under the bridge. There's a reason for this: it's the only place you can really get a sense of how many bats there are, actually see all the bats, and see the large "cloud" they create as they leave. It's never as crowded as it should be though, and I think there's two reasons for this. One, it costs money to get down on the water, and two, it's not quite as easy as walking onto the bridge. You'll have to plan ahead a little, but you won't regret it.

Today, if I'm going to go with friends, we're going to either take a boat ride or rent some canoes or kayaks. Not sure I would have sprung for it 13 years ago, but I won't think twice about it now. It's the only way to get consistently great views of the bats.

Now, I did say "manage your expectations". What did I mean? Well, understand that this attraction is based on wild animals. While they're somewhat predictable, they're still wild animals. You might get there at the predicted time and find the bats have already taken flight. You might find they're not going to come out for another hour. Your vantage point might suck, even though everyone told you it was great. It might be too dark to see the bats clearly. It might be January and there's no bats. It might be August and there's millions. Everything about this is highly variable. If you just show up on a random night with some friends, I can't tell you what to expect. You might get a spectacle or you might come away wondering what the big deal is.

If you want the best chance of a fantastic experience, go early on a late August evening and find a way to be out on the water. Then...

Parking Revenue Recovery Services (the lot on the south end of the bridge for the bats) charges $87 if you don't pay for parking within 10 minutes of entering the lot. They have a sign that is improperly placed below the passenger-side window as you enter. All other signage in the lot is properly placed at the window height, and the one with the charge states $75 will be charge, not $87, and certainly not the $92 that I had to pay "for convenience". I entered the lot at 6:05pm, sat in the vehicle discussing the evening's schedule with my passengers, and then decided on the schedule of the evening. Once we had a schedule, I initiated the parking from 6:30pm to 8:30pm then exited the vehicle to go to the bridge. Now, I can understand $30 for a parking violation, but $87 is outrageously disproportional to the charge of $10.45 for the two hours stayed. We also got a flat tire in the lot, so the entire bat experience cost us over $200. Completely outrageous that a company can get away with charging a 800% penalty fee for sitting in the vehicle for 20 minutes over. This is not how the city of Austin should allow companies to treat their citizens. $87 with a letter in the mail threatening collections. Unbelievable!! My notice number is LAZA-024823 if anyone can explain how a sign at ground eye-level can be used as an excuse to charge people 800%...

Top on the list of things to do in Austin was the bat exodus from Congress Ave Bridge. We parked in the parking lot at the Austin Statemen bldg (after hours). There are kiosks to pay to park but we did not as we couldn’t get it to work. The area near the bridge had been sectioned off into boxes with yellow spray paint in the grass to insure social distancing, but it was wearing off. A busy area as people were jogging, bicycling thru there as well. There were also several tour boats in the water. We went on a week day so the crowd wasn’t too bad, but I imagine on the weekend it could get a bit hairy. It was after dusk before we started to hear the bats getting ready to fly and was after 6pm before the flood of them started out. Although it was hard to capture on a video or photo, it was quite the site to see and well worth a trip! Just a FYI - they all seemed to exit form one area of the bridge near where the water met the shore. We had expected them to come out from all of the areas, but we were still in a good spot to see all of the action. We stayed for about 20 minutes and they were...