Located in the Texas Panhandle, Caprock Canyons State Park’s Clarity Tunnel is a unique bat-watching destination. Here, you can witness 500,000 Mexican free-tailed bats in their natural habitat, roosting in a century-old railroad tunnel. You can observe these bats fly from late April through mid-October, but the highest number of bats is in early September. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), this tunnel is not suitable for nursing because it’s open-ended and has unstable weather conditions. If you make the trip out, you’ll see stunning landscape views of the Llano Estacado and possibly bison roaming around the state park.

No list of Texas bat-watching spots would be complete without mentioning the iconic Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin. Home to the largest urban bat colony in North America, it’s a must-visit for anyone exploring the capital city. From March to October, you can witness around 1.5 million bats emerging from their daytime roosts, painting the sky with their intricate flight patterns. Boat tours go below the bridge where you can get a firsthand look of the show, but beware the incredibly revolting smell as a result of all the bat poop down there. Many locals will tell you it’s best to just view from above the bridge.

From May through October, you can view the bats at Old Tunnel State Park in the Hill Country, halfway between Comfort and Fredericksburg. According to the TPWD, this colony can eat 25 tons of moths per night. There are two paid viewing areas; the Upper Area is closed after September, but the Lower Area remains open through October. When you watch them from below, you can feel a bit of wind pick up from the bats flapping around in the air. The lower area is open Thursday through Sunday evenings but check the website for more information. 

Hidden beneath the Watonga Boulevard Bridge along the White Oak Bayou Greenway Trail, a colony of bats makes its shelter. Just 11 miles northwest of downtown Houston, you can watch approximately 100,000 Mexican free-tailed bats as they embark on their nightly adventures. If you sit along the bayou during sunset, you can see them swoop out of the bridge and clumsily fly along the river, catching insects. Head south on Watonga Boulevard and find parking across from De Milo Drive, then access the viewing spot via the hike and bike trail.

Houston’s renowned bat-watching hot spot, the Waugh Drive Bat Colony, is home to approximately 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats. They emerge from the nooks and crannies of the bridge, putting on a mesmerizing show along Buffalo Bayou. The best spots for viewing include a platform along Allen Parkway, the northeast bank near Memorial Drive, and the bridge itself. These bats are a year-round attraction, with peak numbers in summer and early fall. They often take flight eastward along the bayou before dispersing. Warm evenings throughout the year offer the best viewing opportunities, but the bats tend to stay hidden when temperatures are near 50 degrees or lower, or during rainy weather. The Buffalo Bayou Partnership hosts “Bat Chats” on Friday nights from March to October, where you can enjoy a batty Q&A session with the Houston Area Bat Team.

The legendary Bracken Cave Preserve just outside San Antonio is a dwelling for the largest bat colony in the world. About 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats gather here during the summer months, emerging in a swirling dark cloud to hunt for their evening meal. The cave is also known as a maternity colony, where the mothers give birth to one pup in June. Since this Hill Country cave is on private property and is protected by Bat Conservation International (BCI), reservations to see the bat flights are required. The cave’s schedule is posted in March of each year and reservations can be made between May and September.

If you’re looking for a more urban bat-watching experience, the Camden Street Bridge located along the Museum Reach segment of the San Antonio River should be on your list. Underneath this historic bridge, around 50,000 male Mexican free-tailed bats take up residence, providing a fun feeding show as they glide into the night sky and over the city during summer months. This is a bridge you’ll want to be under rather than over, as the Museum Reach’s trail has a lot of beautiful art installations and lights up at night. The BCI, San Antonio River Authority, and TPWD host the annual Bat Loco festival in August to celebrate the importance of Texas bats and spread awareness of bat conservation.

An hour northwest of Fredericksburg, the Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve is a limestone cave that has one of the nation’s largest bat nurseries, housing around four million female bats from May to September. Like the Bracken Cave Preserve, these bats give birth to single pups in June and July, who join their mothers in flight five weeks later, then head to Mexico solo in October. The Eckert family has a history of guano mining (bat excrement sometimes used for fertilizer) and bat conservation, thanks to a partnership with the Nature Conservancy. Reservations are required and are not year-round.