Heather Dalton Photography | Blog » Austin

Bat boat!

Heather — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:43:12 +0000

One of the things I really wanted to show Sam when I took her to Austin for the 4th of July was the bats. Austin has the largest urban population of Mexican free-tailed bats in the world; the boat tour guide said there were 800,000 bats this year! They live under the Congress Avenue bridge over Ladybird Lake downtown. They fly out in swarms at sunset during the warmer months to eat, and you can take a boat out on the lake to watch. Sam and I went on Capital Cruise‘s bat boat tour and were treated to the best show they had had all summer. Below are pictures of the skyline at sunset, a yellow-crowned night heron (that feeds on baby bats and thus hangs out around the bridge), and the bats! The video shows several swarms of bats flying out from under the bridge, over the treeline, and down the lake. It’s amazing to see, so if you’re ever in Austin during the summer, you should definitely go check out the bats!

Yellow-crowned night heron

Bats!

Summer in downtown Austin

Heather — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:29:12 +0000

When my friend Sam and I were in Austin, she wanted to go on a bat boat tour on the lake. We got there early to make sure to get a good seat and had some time to kill, so we wandered around on the hike and bike trail. It’s a nice trail right by the water with lots of plants and birds to watch. We saw a mama cardinal feeding a baby in the bushes!

Sam at the Capitol

Heather — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:30:33 +0000

The State Capitol Building in Austin is an impressive building made of pink granite from the Texas Hill Country. I took Sam there to wander around at sunset one of the nights we were in town for the 4th of July.

The Oasis

Heather — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 01:49:01 +0000

A friend of mine, Sam, was in Houston from Canada for work right before the 4th of July. I took her with me when I headed to Austin for the holiday weekend. One of our stops was The Oasis, a restaurant built into the side of the limestone cliffs overlooking Lake Travis. Sam, Sara, and I had dinner and watched the sun set over the lake. It was beautiful but blazing hot!

Sara!

Sam and me!

You can see the dark side of the Moon in this one

Turtles!

Heather — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 03:12:13 +0000

When I went to Austin for the 4th of July, we stopped in at County Line BBQ on Lake Austin. It’s fantastic BBQ and has a deck out on the lake where you can feed the turtles! Below are a few that were especially friendly. They were adorable!

Portraits of Terri and Brittany

Heather — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 18:14:57 +0000

While I was in Austin, I took portraits of Terri and her daughter, Brittany. It was cold but pretty out so we headed to a park near their house for some outdoor pictures before going home to take pictures with their dogs in front of the Christmas tree. It’s always fun taking pictures with them and we had a blast!

It was a little difficult at first to get the dogs to cooperate… But it made for a pretty funny picture

Long-time friends

Heather — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:22:58 +0000

One of the nice things about being back in Austin over Christmas was getting to see people I’ve been friends with for a long time but don’t get to see often. A few of them even let me take pictures of them.

My friend Erin, who now lives in Oahu

My friend Cate, who was my science teacher in eighth grade

My awesome cousin Erin

My best friend of about 12 years now, Sara

Downtown Austin with Em and Sara

Heather — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 20:27:32 +0000

We took a stroll by Town Lake with Sara when Em and I were in Austin and stopped for a few pictures.

Downtown Austin

Heather — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:13:46 +0000

I made a seven-picture panorama of the downtown Austin skyline at dusk, and I can’t decide if I like it better in color or black and white. I also got a decent shot of the moon.

McKinney Falls State Park

Heather — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:04:19 +0000

We went to McKinney Falls State Park south of Austin a couple of weeks ago and hiked around in the gorgeous spring weather.

Upper McKinney Falls

Lower McKinney Falls