Old Tunnel State Park
near FredericksburgBat-viewing tickets required after 5 p.m., May 1 through Oct 31, and sold in advance only. Colony size peaks in August and September.
Experience
Bats, Birds & Wild Things
The Hill Country’s best wildlife show costs five dollars, happens at sunset, and involves several million bats leaving a hole in a hill.
The lay of the land
Old Tunnel State Park is the smallest state park in Texas — an abandoned railroad tunnel southeast of Fredericksburg that up to three million Mexican free-tailed bats and a few thousand cave myotis use as a summer roost. At dusk from May through October they pour out in a column you can hear as much as see.
By day, the same limestone canyons hold two songbirds that breed nowhere else in the world. The golden-cheeked warbler nests only in Texas, in mature Ashe juniper–oak woodland, and the black-capped vireo shares much of the same country. Spring mornings at Lost Maples, South Llano River, and the Balcones canyonlands are birding of national significance.
Where to go
Featured spots
South Llano River State Park
JunctionFour walk-in bird blinds, a Dark Sky Park designation, and a wintering turkey roost. One of the best all-round wildlife parks in Texas.
Lost Maples State Natural Area
VanderpoolGolden-cheeked warblers and black-capped vireos in April and May, in the canyons above the Sabinal.
The Cibolo
BoerneMarsh boardwalk, prairie, and creek habitat — an easy, family-scale morning of birding.
Devil’s Sinkhole
RockspringsA 350-foot vertical shaft that a million-plus bats spiral out of at dusk. Tours only, by reservation through the state natural area.
Know before you go
A few good tips
- Buy Old Tunnel bat tickets in advance — none are sold at the gate.
- Emergence time shifts with the season; Old Tunnel runs an information line for same-day timing.
- Bats are earlier and denser in August and September than in June, when the females are away giving birth.
- Bring bug spray and something to sit on. You will be still for an hour.
- For warblers, be on the trail at first light in April. By 10 a.m. it is over.
Plan it properly
Book it with the source
Hours, fees, and closures change. These are the people who set them.
- Old Tunnel State Park (TPWD)
Tickets, viewing area rules, and the season calendar.
- Bat-watching sites in Texas
TPWD’s guide to the colony and emergence timing.
- South Llano River State Park
Bird blinds, camping, and dark skies at Junction.
- The Cibolo, Boerne
Guided bird walks and the marsh boardwalk.
Where to base
Destinations for this
Fredericksburg
30.275°N 98.872°WGillespie County
German roots, a Main Street of biergartens and shops, and the gateway to Texas wine country. The unofficial capital of the Hill Country.
Lost Maples & the Sabinal Canyon
29.816°N 99.570°WBandera & Real Counties
A relict stand of bigtooth maples in a steep canyon on the Sabinal River — and the best fall color in Texas, for about three weeks a year.
Boerne
29.795°N 98.732°WKendall County
A German-founded town on Cibolo Creek with a Hill Country Mile of shops, a 100-acre nature center, and a cathedral-sized cave ten minutes out of town.
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