Bats, some people think, are kind of creepy. Little squeaky mice with wings webbed like duck feet.
Maybe rabid. Maybe related to vampires. Most certainly unwelcome if swooping through your bedroom late at night.

But in reality? THEY ARE COOL.
And in Austin, where I live, they are an institution.

A million and a half of them — all babies and mamas — spend 6 months under the Congress Avenue bridge, fly out in dark, pretty, undulating waves every night, hungry for insects. Which is good news for those of us with sweet blood. It’s like the opposite of being bit by a vampire, really.

Bats. They get a bad rap.

Hundreds of people
A million and a half bats
Gather on one bridge