A fantastic Houston tour on Buffalo Bayou will take you up-close and personal to witness Mexican free-tail bats that live underneath the Waugh Drive Bridge. The unusually large colony of Mexican free-tail bats roost in Houston all year long. They've moved into a section of the bridge that crosses over Buffalo Bayou between Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive.
This year Houston bat-watching have really taken off. The Buffalo Bayou Partnership, a non-profit organization that oversees the bayou and it's improvements, have put together weekend tours on a pontoon boat, to allow Houstonians to witness the swarm of bats emerging from the under-pinnings of the bridge.
Local urban biologist have been studying them and holding informal talks about the Houston’s bats. To see them for yourself is an awesome sight. They form a huge black vortex of winged creatures as they rush out at to their hunting grounds during their nightly emergence. Houston has been an underground bat-watching mecca for the past few years, for a handful of people who knew about the bats.
3 FYI's On Mexican Freetail Bats:
They typically live to be about 13 years old.
Females give birth to a single baby, or pup, each spring.
These bats normally make their homes in limestone caves and abandoned mines
Keep your eyes peeled while you're on the Houston tour for osprey, cardinals, herons, hawks other winged residents that also call the bayou home. You'll spot one or more of these majestic fliers hunting, fishing and swooping through the green canopy on just about every trip to view the bat colony.
For more information to be a part of the incredible Houston tour on Buffalo Bayou visit the Buffalo Bayou partnership webspace.
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