We share our environment with many other species, all of which play a vital role in the ecosystem. With natural habitats dwindling in the Hill Country, appropriate land stewardship is becoming critical to survival for many species.

Hays County is home to a great multitude of bird species. Situated on the Central Flyway and existing in both the Edwards Plateau and Blackland Prairie eco-regions, Hays County has recorded over 300 species of birds.

Would you like to know more about what makes a good birdhouse? How to make one, what makes it attractive to birds, how to keep the birds safe?

Insects are the largest group of organisms in our world in terms of quantity of species. They represent approximately 40% of all known species of living things. We study insects because they are so biologically diverse, they are adaptive, and our ecosystem requires them in order to survive.

Hays County is home to more than fifty species of freshwater fish. Many are fairly common and quite abundant, including a number of sportfish species. However, several species are less far-reaching and are unique to central Texas.

Hays County’s herpetofauna (population of reptiles and amphibians) is diverse and unique—reflecting the County’s position at an intersection of several of the state’s eco-regions and the one-of-a-kind habitats associated with Edward’s Aquifer and Edward’s Plateau.

Mammals are a unique class of vertebrate animals. As we all know, they possess hair and females have mammary glands. Mammals range in size from the inch and a half long bumblebee bat to the 98-foot-long blue whale.

The grey fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is native to the southern half of North America. Learn about this delightful tree-climbing resident of the Hill Country.