The Fauna and Flora of Kerr County, Texas | home
Site Guide
WILDLIFE SITES IN KERR COUNTY, TEXAS, USA
INTRODUCTION
First, let me make it clear that this is a schematic map. Kerr County is not square. The distances, sizes of cities and relative locations
are not to scale. And highway 83 runs north and south not east and west. This map, however, represents a "stretching" of the important areas so that i could show more sites in a smaller box. It is critical that you have at least a Texas road map to help you navigate this
county. Better yet, by stopping at the Convention and Visitors Bureau or at many of the convenience stores in town you can pick up a
copy of the Kerrville City map, which has an accurate county map on the back.
Eventually i hope to produce a series of tighter locality maps to help guide you to important spots within spots. You might also want to
know that Ted Eubanks' Fermata, Inc., along with Seth Davidson and Bob Behrstock, are producing a Central Texas Wildlife Viewing Guide for the Texas Highway Department and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, along the lines of the Coastal Birding Trail maps previously produced for the Texas Coast. These should be available soon, and i will announce that when it occurs.
Let's talk briefly about the county, its layout, and wildlife finding in general.
EAST
WEST
NORTH
SOUTH
THE WILDLIFE SITES [* Site designated on the Great Central Texas Wildlife Trail]
*1] Heart of the Hills Fisheries Research Station, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, and Sunset Cemetery, Johnson Fork Creek Road, Texas Highway 39
2) Old Mountain Home bridge, cutoff between Texas Highways 39 and 41 in Mountain Home
3] North Kerr County ranches, Texas Highway 41
*4] Spring Trap Pasture, Kerr Wildlife Management Area, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, FM 1340
Approaching Kerr WMA from the east, you will pass a small, narrow canyon/cut on the right, just before encountering the North Fork of the Guadalupe River again on the left. Watch for a tall gate on the right, with a small wooden sign that says Spring Trap Pasture. Pull in there and park, and then walk back east up the road to the canyon, watching carefully for traffic. The grass can be tall here so watch for snakes, and protect yourself against chiggers. After you reach the canyon area, stand on either side of the road, well off the road and listen for the distinctive song of the Golden-cheeked Warbler (see Golden-cheeked Warbler species account on the Birds page). The birds have territories on both sides of the road, and can often be seen singing from the tops of the tall cedars. The best time to look is from late March to mid-May, and early in the morning (also see account). Other birds easily seen here include Ash-throated Flycatcher, Black-and-white Warbler, Red-eyed, White-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireo, Summer Tanager, Black-crested Titmouse and Canyon Wren. As you move westward in Texas and in this county you lose the eastern birds; in particular this is about the westernmost location where you'll encounter Carolina Chickadee and Carolina Wren in Kerr County.
If you fail to find Golden-cheeked Warblers in this method, drive on up to the main entrance of the Kerr Wildlife Management Area and check in at the office (M-F, 9-5) and ask, and they will guide you to interior access to the birds. Be prepared for driving on rocky roads.
*5] North Fork, Guadalupe River Access, Kerr Wildlife Management Area, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, FM 1340
Across from the Spring Trap Pasture gate there is a road that goes down to the North Fork. Either walk this or drive down into the parking area at the base. This is one of the better locations for Green Kingfisher. Scan the rocks jutting from the water, and the branches of trees overhanging the river. Listen carefully for the thin rattled ziiiiiiiit-ziit of the birds as they zoom like little jets a few inches above the water and close to the bank.
Year-round you might find Great Blue Heron and Wood Ducks here. In summer look for Green Heron, and in winter look for cormorants, Mallards, American Wigeon, Gadwall, and Ring-necked Duck. Green-winged Teal can be found here in spring. Watch the skies here for Northern Raven, Black Vulture and Red-tailed Hawk all year, and American Kestrel, and Golden and Bald Eagles in winter. In spring this is a good spot for catching a look at a Zone-tailed Hawk.
The slopes here often have singing Bewick's Wrens, Canyon Wrens and Northern Cardinals. In spring listen for White-eyed Vireo, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Eastern Bluebird, and Painted Bunting. Golden-cheeked Warblers can sometimes be heard singing on the opposite side of the river, but views are usually distant.
*6] Rock Pasture, Kerr Wildlife Management Area, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, FM 1340
After checking in at the headquarters of the Kerr Wildlife Management Area (mailbox sign-in sheet; map available; access basically free, users should have a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Limited Public Use Permit; $15 and available at Wal-Mart and TP&WD offices), drive on down the main road until you encouter a small wooden sign that says Rock Pasture. This area (the WMAs recommended location) is in the midst of prime Black-capped Vireo habitat. Kerr WMA has one of the five or six largest concentrations of the bird in the world, at least a few hundred pair. You will have to know the song of this bird to find it. The bird is fairly tame and very vocal, but sticks to the interior of dense shrubbery. Even after you have located one by song it may take an hour or more to finally get a satisfying look. Patience is the key to finding it. Walking along the main road, and walking up the road that doubles back from the signed area will give you the best chance to see the bird in this area. The best time is from mid-April to mid-June. If you fail to find it here, check out Bobcat Pasture, where in my opinion the bird is more easily found. While you're here check out all the other birds in this area. It is a good place for Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Bushtit, Bewick's Wren, Northern Cardinal, White-eyed Vireo, Greater Roadrunner, Western Scrub-Jay and Eastern Bluebird. It and Bobcat Pasture are the only places in the county where Varied Buntings have been found breeding, and one year Long-billed Thrashers and Brown-crested Flycatchers nested here too.
In winter, this is an excellent area for sparrows. Look for Savannah, Vesper, Lark, White-crowned, and Chipping Sparrows. Rufous-crowned and Field Sparrows are here year-round. Clay-colored Sparrows can be especially numerous here in April.
*7] Bobcat Pasture, Kerr Wildlife Management Area, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, FM 1340
This is the single best area in the county to find Black-capped Vireo in my opinion.
Off of FM 1340, continuing west from the Kerr WMA main entrance you will find the entrance marked by a wooden sign and a cattle guard on the right. Turn in here and drive down this rock road. You will notice and area on the left that has been burned and is now rich in grasses. Check this area in late spring and summer for Grasshopper Sparrow.
Moving on, as you come around a wide turn you will be in prime vireo habitat. Continue driving until you reach a tank and windmill, with an enclosure marked by a wooden sign that says Bobcat Pens. Pull in here out of the way, and prepare for a short walk. The usual snake and chigger warnings apply, and after walking this area you should be prepared to do tick checks.
First check out the area around the tank. There is water overflow here and the birds often come in large numbers to drink here. This area is the only reliable area in the county for Common Ground-Dove, though they are infrequent even here. In migration it is a good area for Yellow-headed Blackbird. Varied Bunting has nested here. It is also a good location for getting looks at Bushtits. Stepping out into an open area gives you a good view of the countryside for miles around. Scan the skies regularly in spring for Zone-tailed Hawk. All year long you might see Red-tailed Hawk, Common Raven and Black Vulture. Turkey Vultures are present except in winter. During the coldest months look for Golden and Bald Eagles. This area is an excellent area to just sit and watch. Once you have found the Black-capped Vireo, you might want to return and spend some time watching the water tank drainage area.
Now, walk back down the road you drove in on, carefully listening for the song of the Black-capped Vireo. Once you have located a song, patiently follow along until the bird shows itself. Be very careful walking out into the shinnery here. The rocks are uneven and wobbly, this is rattlesnake country, and there is a low, just-below-the-knees electric fence here for managing livestock.
In spring and early summer this area is alive with Field Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Blue Grosbeaks, Canyon Towhees, Rufous-crowned Sparrows, White-eyed Vireos, and Painted Buntings as well as the Black-capped Vireo. It is an enjoyable walk . . . until the heat sets in. Best to walk it early in the morning, although vireos will sing virtually all day long (slowing down some in the heat). This is a good spot for finding Western Scrub-Jay year-round.
In the winter this area is crawling with Spotted Towhees, and the usual run of Sparrows. Fox Sparrow, scarce in this county, has been seen here in the winter.
*8] Headwaters of the Guadalupe River, Stowers Ranch, and Boneyard Draw, FM 1340
At the high bridge (30 03'12"N 99 31'58"W) which arches over the dry North Fork of the Guadalupe River just above the headwaters is a magnificent location for viewing a number of special area birds. The area, part of what is popularly known as Boneyard Draw to locals, is just a few miles west of the Kerr Wildlife Management Area on FM 1340. At the site, identifiable by the tall cliffs on the south (left) side of the road, pull over onto one of the two ranch roads which end at locked barbed-wire fences, or simply pull well off the road. The highway has little traffic and it is safe to bird along the road here. Occasionally a rancher will approach and need access to a gate, but these are to back pastures and you seldom have to move your vehicle. In winter, the cliff face serves as a roosting spot for a substantial population of Bald and Golden Eagles, with occasionally as many as 15 to 20 being seen at one time on the cliff face and ledge. The Bald Eagles will outnumber Goldens about five to one here so don't be fooled by the immature Bald Eagles into thinking you have a Golden. It's a good place for sturying the two together. American Kestrels, Red-tailed Hawks, and Peregrine Falcons are often seen in the area, and may harass the eagles. In addition a pair of Northern Ravens nests on the cliff and they may also give chase to the other raptors. A pair of Chihuahuan Ravens once attempted to nest under the bridge in the struts, and among other raptors a Red-shouldered hawk pair uses the woodlands at the headwaters below the cliff (tehse woodlands can be seen -- and the birds heard -- but cannot be approached), and Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks are sometimes seen in winter, and frequently in migration. One of two known nesting pairs of Zone-tailed Hawks in Kerr County (and thus one of the easternmost nesting pairs in the U.S.) nests in elms, pecans, or sycamores in this vicinity, and can often be found soaring here with Turkey Vultures. You may hear them screaming in the spring, and you should search the trees near the cliff face for a look at one sitting. This is also a rich place for night birds. A Great Horned Owl resides in the area, likely nesting on the north side of the road, and can be heard in the early morning and well after dusk. Both Western Screech-Owls and Eastern Screech-Owls are in the cedar and oak thickets below the cliff (best heard from November to March), and Chuck-will's-widows and Common Poorwills call after sunset here (heard only after late April, though Poorwills winter here and can sometimes be seen on this road on warm January evenings). In the extensive woodlands along the headwaters roosts a rather large flock of turkeys. In the minutes after dawn or the minutes around dusk you may see literally hundreds of Wild Turkeys crossing the road here on the way to or from the roost. Arriving before dawn, if you hoot like a Barred Owl here, you'll usually get turkeys in response. The woods also host some interesting birds of eastern affinity at their westernmost in the county here, including Red-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos. White-eyed Vireos are common in the thickets near the fenceline on the south side; Bell's Vireos are sometimes found on the more xeric north side of the road. In winter this xeric thorn-scrub area on the north side, opposite the cliffs has produced Pyrrhuloxia, Verdin and Sage Thrasher.
Walking northwest across the bridge you will find a fair-sized pond on the north side of the road. A careful approach may net you Wood Ducks yearround; in winter you're likely to find American Wigeon, Northern Shovelers or Gadwall here; and in migration it's likely to be Blue-winged Teal. Sometimes a Belted Kingfisher will be in the neighborhood, and this is one of only a couple of Kerr County locations where Black Phoebe has been found; the same is true for Rock Wren, which is a curiously scarce bird in this county. Cliff Swallows nest on the short cliffs above the eastern side of this pond, and in April and May you may see them flying down to gather mud at the edge of the pond for building their nests.
This is a really good spot also for those looking to see some exotic mammals. It is one of the few spots where i consistently have found Aoudad, which use the north slope of the cliffs here, and there is a small group of Sika that uses the pasture on the west side of the pond. Feral Hogs are often seen around the pond or on the gentle north slopes of the cliff area. As for natives, this is an excellent place to see Rock Squirrel, and a Porcupine for quite some time has slept in a shallow cave on the cliff face -- you'll have to scan well to find him, and know that the cliff is deceptively higher and further away than it seems.
9] Temple Ranch area, FM 1340
10] YO Ranch, and ranches in the vicinity, Texas Highway 41
11] Ranch at corner of Texas Highway 39 and FM 187
12] South Fork Ranch and neighboring ranches, Texas Highway 39
*13] Lynxhaven Lodge and Skull Gulch Ranch Canyon (The Rookery), Texas Highway 39
Get to this spot by passing a series of low water crossings (which can all be checked for Green Kingfisher if water flow is good) and then Lynxhaven Lodge (formerly a birder's B&B) if coming from the west, and by passing the Skull Gulch Ranch entrance gate if coming from the east. There is no easy parking here; simply pull off the side of the road as best you can, watch out in wet weather, and check for snakes before stepping out of your car (which is actually good advice anywhere in this county). This is a pretty special strip of canyon between Lynxhaven and Skull Gulch Ranch with a number of things best found here than most anywhere else accessible in the county. Start by birding up at the crossing by Lynxhaven. Look upriver (the South Fork of the Guadalupe) and scan for waterfowl, cormorants, herons and egrets, kingfishers, and flyctachers, depending on the season. A group of about five pairs of Great Blue Herons nested down creek a couple of hundred yards for several years, but recently have moved their colony to sycamores overhanging the ponded area across from the lodge. Scan carefully for those nests and the birds. The nice pecan grove across the road from the Lynxhaven entrance is one of the best places to get good looks at Yellow-throated Vireo, and Black-and-white Warblers frequent this stand. It can also be good here in migration. As you walk, or drive down and park, along the road to the place where th road ascends the hill to Skull Gulch look for woodland and thicket birds. Northern Cardinals, Blue Grosbeaks, Painted and Indigo Buntings Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Carolina Wrens and Chipping Sparrows all nest in the riparian woodland and thickets here and easy to locate. On the cedar clad slope on the opposite side of the road can be found nesting Bewick's and Canyon Wrens, Field and Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Canyon Towhee, and Black-and-white Warblers. In the winter this is a good location for looking for House and Winter Wrens and a variety of eastern sparrows including Lincoln's, Song and White-throated. Armadillos and Raccoons are frequently seen in the marshy riverside areas and the plowings of feral hogs are often quite evident here. At the Lynxhaven Crossing, scan the water for looks at the Texas State Fish, the Guadalupe Bass, named after this river and endemic to only a handful of Hill Country rivers. It is found nowhere else in the world.
14] South Fork Marsh on Texas Highway 39
15] Hunt, Texas and Hunt School, Honey Creek Crossing on FM 1340
16] Hunt Crossing, Texas Highway 39
17] Schumacher Crossing, Texas Highway 39
18] Camp Rio Vista crossing, Cade Loop off of Texas Highway 39, and Waltonia Crossing, off of Texas Highway 39
*19] Ingram Dam Lake, west of Ingram, Texas Highway 39
20] Cypress Park Boat Ramp, just south of Arcadia Loop, and Knapp Park, next to Chili's, both off of Texas Highway 27
21] UGRA Lake, off of XXXXXXXXXX, off of Texas Highway 27 from the Sports Center
22] Kirk Ranch, and Turkey Run Ranch, off of Harper Road, FM 479
*23] Sycamore and Third Creek Canyons, Cypress Creek Road, FM 1341, off of Loop 534
24] Johnson Canyon and Medina Canyon, both slopes of Medina Mountain, off of Texas Highway 16
25] Prison Canyon Ranch, and neighboring ranches, on Prison Canyon Road, out of Camp Verde, off of Texas Highway 173
26] Camp Verde ponds, off of Texas Highway 173, north of Camp Verde
27] Eagle Mountain Road, off of Texas Highway 173, north of Camp Verde
*28] Flat Rock Lake, and Kerrville-Schreiner State Park, Kerr County and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, both sides of the Guadalupe River, between Texas Highway 16 and Texas Highway 173, southeast of Loop 534
29] Louise Hays Park and Sheppard-Rees Road
30] Agricultural fields between Center Point and Comfort, off of Texas Highway 27
31] Kerrville Municipal Airport, offof Texas Highway 27
32] Spicer Ranch, Dewberry Hollow, Lacey Ranch, off of Spicer Ranch Road, off of Texas Highway 16
33] Bear Creek Road and Freedom Trail to Indian Creek Crossing, from Arcadia Loop or Sheppard-Rees Road
34] Bear Creek Crossing, off of Arcadia Loop, off of Texas Highway 27
35] Whiskey Canyon Ranch, from Interstate 10
36] Whiskey Canyon Ranch, from Texas Highway 16
Spur 100, off of Texas Highway 27
Goat Creek Road
