Friday, March 9, 2007
A few of your questions answered
Welcome to Austin! Already, the town is filling up with folks eager for the Interactive conference to begin in earnest tomorrow. Lines at the Austin Convention Center have been long and a bit slow processing registrations, which gave us the opportunity to eavesdrop on a few conversations that yielded some pretty Frequently Asked Questions. SXSW Baby! is here to help…
What’s that building? Contrary to speculation, it is neither Superman’s Fortress of SXSW Solitude nor a kinky marital aid for a mythical race of Texas giants. It is the tallest building in Austin, and is officially known as the Frost Bank Tower. The story is that it was built by or at the direction of the Bohemian Club but, for most SXSW attendees, its perhaps cultish ties don’t diminish its utility as a 33-story landmark at Fourth and Brazos, signaling that the Convention Center is near. (Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)
What the hell is up with all the birds? If you’re at all prone to Tippi Hedren-like hysterics, you’ve probably been a bit jumpy since arriving in Austin. That cackling you hear in the trees and that poop you see all over the walk come from the common grackle, of which the city has a ton in residence. Often mistaken for crows, the winged beasties are annoying to be sure and at various times Austin, like many other cities, has undertaken methods both routine and unorthodox to drive them from the streets. Some suspect a grackle mass-death earlier this year was the result of one such campaign, although it was more likely natural causes. Watch where you step and consider wearing a hat whilst roaming downtown.
What’s the deal with the bats? They get a bad rap, but Austin’s bat population isn’t the vampiric, blood-sucking variety. Those are the record producers. (Ba-dum-bump!) No, the cute little flying rats that form the world’s largest urban bat colony make their home under the Congress Avenue Bridge and, on summer and some late spring nights, emerge almost 1.5 million strong to feast on insects and crop pests. It can be quite a sight if you’re lucky enough to catch the furballs in flight but it can also scare the willies out of you if it happens while you’re stumbling along South Congress unawares and/or intoxicated.
