When the sun goes down in Austin, the city's plentiful nocturnal residents take flight—namely, the Mexican free-tailed bats that live in the world's largest urban bat colony. Head out on a kayak to cross the waters of Lady Bird Lake for a front-row seat to their sunset show.

Meet your guide and get set up in a sturdy kayak before setting out across the waters of Lady Bird Lake. Dip your paddle in as you follow your guide along this peaceful downtown waterway, admiring the Austin skyline and the parks and trails along the lake's shores as you make your way toward the Congress Avenue Bridge.

Once you arrive, sit back and look up. Crowds gather on the bridge every evening in anticipation of Austin's most wonderfully weird spectacle—the nightly departure of the city's bat colony. Spot a few intrepid, fluttering flyers make the first move, and then marvel at the vast swarms of 1.5 million bats as they take to the skies and fly out over the city, listening to your guide describe the important role played by the bats in the region's ecosystem.