Although more famous for its musical connections, the Texas state capital Austin has a surprising amount of green spaces – and blue. Lady Bird Lake is actually a reservoir whose skinny shape makes it look more like a river.

It was created in 1960 as a cooling pond for a power plant and was later renamed after former president Lyndon B Johnson’s wife, Claudia 'Lady Bird' Johnson. At nightfall, 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats flutter from beneath Congress Avenue Bridge (pictured).

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