If you were to visit Austin, you’d most likely find yourself crossing the South Congress Bridge to reach one destination or another. Between the months of March and September, you would be met with hundreds of people flocking to this same bridge, Lady Bird Lake below, and the surrounding Ann and Roy Hike-and-Bike Trail. Without much knowledge of the city, you might question whether or not the live music capital of the world was about to put on a grand show, but in actuality, hundreds of people are about to spend their night waiting for the world’s largest urban bat colony to fly out and begin their nightly feast of bloodsucking mosquitoes.
Comprised of primarily female bats and their newborn pups, the colony communicates to one another using chirping noises similar to the ones heard in the selected Australian Bat South Australia audio. Digifishmusic’s recording enhances buhny’s photo by helping put into perspective a portion of the ambience one would experience when gathering around the guano infested bridge during a warm Texas sunset.
Although I no longer live in Austin, the two years my husband and I spent in the city were life giving. Lady Bird Lake, renamed after Lady Bird Johnson, is not only the home to the South Congress bridge, but it memorializes our time not only growing academically, but also growing as a family.
Hi Taylor, I’ve been to Austin a few times before but never knew about this. I love the picture and bat sound effect you picked. The group of people standing across the top of the bridge and the people in boats in the water below eagerly waiting for the bats. The sound effect complements the theme of the post. When viewing the image alone I wouldn’t have guessed it was people flocking to a bridge to view bats feeding on mosquitoes! The sound effect definitely helps me picture the bats flying about and feeding in the early night sky. Another choice for audio could be the sounds coming from 6th street, possibly music or concerts in the distance. My only suggestion for the technical part would be to use a picture that is less dark, possibly more light to define more of what’s going on in the image.
Hey Taylor, I have never been to Austin, TX, but now I’ll have to check it out! When I saw the photo at first, I thought it was some kind of night festival with the crowds gathering at the top of the bridge, waiting for the show to begin. But when pairing it with the bat chirps, it brought to life the idea of the bat colonies feeding and the silence that would fall over the crowds just to hear them. Another choice for the audio that I thought could be interesting would be adding a sound of water flowing in the background since the feeding occurred over the lake. Overall great job, and very interesting facts!