Waugh Drive Bat Colony — Attraction in Houston

Went to visit the Waugh Drive Bat Colony few days back. We reached there 1 hour before the sunset. There was no street parking adjacent to the bat colony so we parked at the visitor parking of the parking lot located in the middle of America Tower and Whole Foods on the Waugh Drive and walked down the Bat colony.

There are 4 places from where you can witness to bat colony. 1. From over the bridge, 2. From the viewing platform at the southeast corner of the bayou bank, next to the bridge (along Allen Parkway) and 3. From the northeast bank of the bayou, near the bridge(near Memorial Drive). 4. Go for the Bat Colony boat tour. The first 3 options are free of cost. For boat tour I guess it is $30 per person.

At first we went to the viewing platform. That place has a very weird smell, maybe from bat poops. During sunset thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats comes out from under the bridge and fly around for 15-20 minutes or so. Our view was obstructed by the trees so we decided to see the bat flying from the bridge. To my opinion the bridge view is far better.

So before visiting the bat colony make sure it is a warm day and there is no raining. If you are in Houston and visiting you should definitely go...

I've seen the bats emerging twice, and it's an incredible site to see.

There is nearby parking both east and west of the bridge, but be prepared to walk about half a mile down the sidewalks. There is a sidewalk up by the street and another down lower. You can view the bats from either sidewalk, but the upper sidewalk has a viewing platform and places to sit on the grassy slope. (note: you cannot easily move from the upper sidewalk to the lower one because of the slope and railings).

The first time I was there, the bats emerged right before sunset, so it was very easy to see the cloud of bats that just kept emerging from beneath the bridge for about 10 minutes straight.it was incredible! The second time, we all waited and waited. The sun set, it grew dark. We were about to give up when the bats finally began to fly out. It was pretty dark by this point, so it was a lot harder to see the cloud of bats and not quite as thrilling as it was the first time.

I have no idea why they emerged at different times. But, it was still very nice and relaxing to sit near the Bayou, watch the sunset under the bridge, and listed to the sounds of nature (and the sounds...

Five stars since you can't go wrong with bat watching. It was great! Worth the wait! Only just a couple problems. Parking is difficult since many business have towing signs so get creative. !!! You have to cross a busy road to get to the area so stay alert !!! In the short amount of time we were actually paying attention to the road I witnessed four cars run red lights. God knows how many more happened since my back was turned watching the bats. If you don't know if the bats have flown yet, you can walk by the bridge and hear their chittering. As others have recommended , we got here thirty minutes before sunset. We got there at 6:15, sunset at 6:45. However the bats flew much later, like 7:20 or 7:30 (can't remember which). I don't know if it was later due to the seasons changing. The bats are adorable and small. We were sitting on the sidewalk, but by the time they flew it was quite dark and hard to track the bats. I had to walk down to the path and look up to see their tiny silhouettes against the barely lit sky. However, the observation deck is set back quite a bit, so I might have...